Raspberry in Place of Emerald
by AnEmOnE2
Summary: Twenty-nine years. An eerie calmness about to be severed after so long a time of peace. An invincible team of four regroup once more...for the final battle of their lives. Sequel to 'From the Fox's Eyes'...are you ready?
1. A Tail's Tale

*Anemone's room...Hiei's taking a nap on her couch, and Kurama's playing her piano...Anemone's at the computer listening to his playing*  
  
Anemone: wow Fox! I didn't know you were that good! *Kurama blushes slightly*  
  
Hiei: *mumbling in his sleep* ...ice cream...  
  
Anemone: OOH! I'VE GOT AN IDEA!!  
  
Kurama: what is it, Mones?  
  
Anemone: we should start a band!!  
  
Hiei: *still mumbling* ...chocolate ice cream...  
  
Kurama: a band?  
  
Anemone: YEAH! You could play keyboard, I could be lead guitar, Mirai Trunks could do turn tables-  
  
Hiei: ...DOUBLE chocolate ice cream...  
  
Anemone: -and Flames can play the drums!  
  
Kurama: that's an excellent idea Mones...but...  
  
Anemone: ...but?  
  
Hiei: ...but where's the whipped cream?!...  
  
Kurama: ...but, we need a lead singer, back-up singers, a bass guitarist-  
  
Hiei: ...and a CHEERY...hell yeah...mmm...  
  
Anemone: hm...OOH! You could sing lead, I could sing back-up, Anneliese could be bass guitar and Ellen can be our manager!!  
  
Kurama: ...manager...?  
  
Anemone: YEAH! We need gigs!  
  
Kurama: but...we haven't even established it as an official-  
  
Hiei: *still mumbling* ...NO! MY ice cream...get away, Kitsune...  
  
Kurama: *sweatdrop* erm...shouldn't we wake up Hiei and ask him if he even wants-?  
  
Anemone: -okay it's settled!!! WE ARE STARTING A BAND, PEOPLE!! *gets hit in the head with a pillow*  
  
Hiei: *who threw the pillow, still sleeping* ...shut up!!...  
  
Anemone: *throws pillow REALLY hard at him, whacks him upside the face, he falls off the couch*  
  
Hiei: *jerks awake* what the hell?!?! *pretty pissed*  
  
Anemone: THAT'S what you get for throwing a pillow at me!  
  
Hiei: the hell are you talking about?! I didn't throw a pillow at you, woman!  
  
Kurama: ^_^' heh...erm, anyway...*turns to readers* chapter 2, enjoy.  
  
Anemone: grr, Hiei...!  
  
Hiei: ...stupid moron...  
  
Anemone: WHAT?!?! *lunges at Hiei, about to get VERY violent*  
  
Kurama: O_O go read!! Quickly!  
  
Chapter 2: A Tail's Tale  
  
"Keiko?Keiko?Keiko?Keiko?Keiko?" Yusuke breathed in steady, quick repetition to the woman sprawled over the couch. "Keiko?Keiko?Keiko?"  
  
Her pinched eyes clenched tighter in a quivered wince, a trembled moan escaping through a barrier of grit teeth. Her tense face then relaxed as her sagging eyes pealed open. "Y-Yusuke...?"  
  
"KEIKO!" He beamed. "Okay-honey-I'm-thrilled-you're-awake-but-the-guys-all- left-and-I-gotta-go-with-them-to-see-Koenma-and-find-out-what-the-hell- happened-to-Kurama-gotta-go-love-you-BYE!" with that he pricked a peck of a kiss to the stunned woman's brow and bolted for the door.  
  
"What the-?! YUSUKE!" she hollered after the punk in frustration, the former Detective racing away in search for his companions. He whipped ferociously down the suburban street, and eventually found himself sprinting through Tokyo.  
  
"Kurama?! Hiei! Kuwa?!" he roared into the various alleyways and turns of the city-span as he scanned over for the others. "Aw dammit where'd they go?!"  
  
"Calm yourself Detective," a scoffing tone burned behind. Yusuke whirled around to see Hiei...okay, so one down...but where were-?  
  
"Shorty!" a faint call stung in echoes against the walls of the alleyway. Kuwabara sprinted into view. "Jeez THERE you are! Have you found the portal yet?!"  
  
"I ran into Detective, who seems to have abandoned his mate."  
  
"I didn't abandon her! I waited till she woke up and gave her very clear explanations!"  
  
The hidden orb veiled by a single bandana glowed upon Hiei's forehead. "You merely gave her a rushed attempt of an excuse before leaving her out of the blue."  
  
A brief pause. "Shut up!"  
  
"Fool, be useful and use your Spirit Awareness to help us feel out the portal," Hiei's singeing ruby eyes cast lazily over his shoulder for Kuwabara.  
  
"Why can't you find it...?" Yusuke inquired slowly. "...and why are you looking in alleys...?"  
  
"A new measure of precaution for the secrecy of the Spirit World's existence," a calm voice breathed into hearing. Chocolate, ruby, and onyx eyes each threw themselves for a velvet shadow, Kurama stepping free of it's barrier, his brilliant eyes scanning in opposite directions as his sensitive awareness strained to feel out the gateway's whereabouts. "Koenma has recently decided it is an ill option to merely allow only one portal to the Spiritual Realm...he has made it official to change the portal monthly, as to lessen the chance of a mortal stumbling upon it."  
  
"Oh..." Yusuke panned this over in his mind, allowing his shoulders to shift in a brief shrug.  
  
"Okay whatever...guess I wasn't as far behind as I thought having to stay with Keiko."  
  
"Be quiet and help us locate the portal, Detective," the Dragon half- growled in irritation, allowing his Jagon to glow visible through his sleek bandana as he searched telepathically for the new passageway.  
  
"Hey guys!" Kuwabara's croaky voice stung their attention from the far end of the dank alleyway. "I found it! Over here! By the dumpster!"  
  
"Great...a dumpster...a disgusting mass of bubbling waste rotting into itself with the leisurely slowness of hardened molasses while allowing itself to seep of a vile odor and soften to an appalling extent..." Hiei grunted in annoyance.  
  
"Okay, eww..." Yusuke eyed the Koorime with a sickened sensation swelling over his senses.  
  
"...hem..." Kurama clicked his tongue to his teeth. "Well, that's the portal alright..."  
  
"The hell would Koenma put the portal under a freakin' dumpster for?!" Yusuke growled.  
  
"Obviously so normal ningens wouldn't dare approach it, and so only demons and persons of your rank, Detective, wouldn't use it unless for a dire situation," Hiei concluded bluntly, his tone monotonous at how apparent his reasonings were.  
  
The group then cast their eyes straight for Kurama, waiting in silence before he responded. He blinked slowly to the flicking tail brushing against his thigh and swishing gracefully though the air, and bobbed his naturally narrow glare back for his companions. "I dare say that this is worth it..."  
  
"Then by all means, you first," Yusuke stepped aside, a calm half-smirk about his face. Kurama growled slightly in the core of his throat before eyeing the disgusting, greasy, dumpster, and, groaning at what he must do...eased to the ground, and slid beneath the leaking, nauseating metal box of trash. He just barely held in the yearn to purge, his fox-like sense of smell swelling dramatically under the intensity of the vile odor.  
  
"You okay there, Kurama?" Yusuke half-winced at the slight noises of nausea escaping from beneath the greasy, rusted dumpster.  
  
Kurama responded with an annoyed growl, continuing onward with his skid. He was pressed firmly against the concrete of the ground, the rusted, sharp jags of the metal dumpster just an inch north his nose. A drip of ooze tore from the dumpster floor, and ran down the side of the Fox's temple. The calm Kitsune paused in his utter irritation. "Oh joy..." he grunted in frustration. "I certainly hope any information obtained after this is worth it..."  
  
"We won't know until we try," Hiei smirked deviously. "Just inch down a little more and you should collapse into the dimensional tear between the two worlds, Kitsune."  
  
"If I make it to the other side, and none of you attempt to come in after me, you will be sorry," Kurama threatened with a tauntingly calm flavor.  
  
"No worries there, Red...I'm too damn curious about that tail to abandon ya...now hurry up! I wanna get my turn over with..." Yusuke chuckled, though seriously dreading having to himself follow Kurama's route.  
  
The fox stubbornly eased his way further down the dank, humid darkness of the dumpster's underbelly, until a sensation of weightlessness shifted his ankles lower in what felt to be a gel-filled hole. "Alright! Here's the gateway...best be seeing you in a few moments," the fox smiled calmly before pressing firm against the concrete of the ground and slipping fully into the smooth, soft portal and sliding entirely from the living dimension.  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
"Hmm..." Koenma cooed to himself in thought as he examined Kurama's new extension with intent caramel eyes. The fox stood in vexation as he awaited an explanation. Hiei stood leaning to the far wall, watching on with half his attention. Kuwabara and Yusuke were almost as irritated with the child- like Lord as Kurama was. "Yep...it's a tail alright..."  
  
"We know THAT!" Yusuke half-growled in his annoyance. "How did he get it?!"  
  
"Yusuke, shut up...lemme take a looksy..." the toddler pinched to the corner of a page and flipped over, repeating this several times. "Let's see...tails, tails, tails...ah! Here we are! Fox tails."  
  
"What does it say?" Kurama sighed as he strained to remain patient.  
  
"Hmm...absolutely nothing that corresponds with your situation," Koenma scratched his neck in mild frustration.  
  
"Great!" Kuwabara's narrowed onyx eyes tucked back in annoyance. "This makes NO sense..."  
  
"Baka..." Hiei smirked morbidly.  
  
"Watch it, Midget! I only put up with you because you're my beloved Yukina's brother...DON'T TEMPT ME INTO KILLING YOU AND MAKING MY SOUL MATE PISSED OFF AT ME!!"  
  
Hiei merely wrinkled his nose at the moronic fool. "Silence, you idiot...maybe this scenario would make sense if Koenma had bothered to examine the wolf section," Hiei's low tone rang from behind. "Eh, Kurama?"  
  
"Exactly what I was thinking, Hiei," the Kitsune smiled tiredly. "Koenma Sir?"  
  
"Of course! Your wolf heritage!" the toddler exclaimed at himself after remembering Kurama was partially of the wolf breed, again scanning through his documents in a vain attempt to find the source of the red-head's case. "Ah! Now THIS deals with your situation, Kurama!" Koenma half-chuckled arrogantly after having found the proper data.  
  
"Yes?" the red-head inquired calmly.  
  
"It seems..." Koenma began to read aloud the intricate details of the wolf breed's tail growth.  
  
"...that the spines of wolf demons take the first forty-something years of their lives before being able to extend beyond a human's length, and once a wolf demon is about that age, they grow their tail."  
  
"Ah yes..." Kurama drew back in remembrance. "...forty years before a tail is grown."  
  
"But, isn't that kinda old...?" Kuwabara piped in his confusion.  
  
"Moron..." the morbid flame Koorime grunted. "...for a demon, forty- something years is mere infancy."  
  
A brief pause. "Oh..."  
  
"But..." Yusuke bit to his bottom lip. "Kurama's not really a demon anymore...he's been reincarnated into a human..."  
  
"True...care to take up that factor, Koenma?" Kurama dared calmly, his bushy tail brushing smooth to his thigh.  
  
"...well, Kurama..." the toddler sighed half-awkwardly. "Have you ever wondered why you never resembled either of your human parents?"  
  
Kurama drew back slightly, pricking in thought. "Indeed...why is that?"  
  
"Same reason you were able to grow a tail even as a humanoid..." the toddler smirked in his wisdom. "...in your reincarnation, you dragged not only your soul into the empty body of the potential Suichi Minamino, but your genetics as well."  
  
*a/n: okay, I don't like to think Kurama stole a body from a living kid...so, for the sake of this, let's just say Shiori knew she was pregnant, but was unknowingly carrying a dead baby in her womb, the potential Suichi having just died, until Kurama took the empty vessel for himself*  
  
"You...you mean, I truly am still demonic?" the fox blinked in shock. "I thought I was merely now the shadow of what was once a Fox-Wolf...but I truly am still such?"  
  
"Partially...because you took an empty body, you had control over the genetical make up...but, you were limited to some human standards...such as, you lacked your silver hair and your fox ears because the human ears were already formed in Shiori's womb," Koenma shrugged.  
  
"I see...and because I still possess my demonic traits, I still have my abilities with plants and the fact that I grow a tail in my forties..."  
  
"Exactly," the toddler nodded primly.  
  
"So wait..." Yusuke paused the explanation in his confusion. "Lemme get this straight...Kurama left his demon body with like his soul and his genes, and put himself in this empty body, and influenced the kids genes, and because of that he could still grow a tail at forty-something years old like a wolf demon would have?"  
  
"Precisely," Kurama half-smirked. "Nice to see you were paying attention."  
  
"Do I never?" Yusuke grinned arrogantly.  
  
"Constantly," Hiei scoffed from behind, still at his leisurely place against the wall.  
  
"But..." Kuwabara was lost. "...if wolf demons get their tails when they're babies, wouldn't Kurama have gotten one when he was a baby...?"  
  
"You fool...weren't you paying attention?" Hiei half-growled. "Wolf demons are infants at forty-years old, that much is so...but, because Kurama still had his fox and wolf heritage, his spine, like those of the wolf breed, couldn't grow until he was about forty...it may seem rather old in your weak race's terms, but not for demons."  
  
"Indeed," Kurama smiled tiredly at the confused Kuwabara. "Not that humans are weak, yet the rest is so...But, what I would like to know, Koenma...is why were my children each born with a tail?"  
  
"Hey yeah!" Yusuke piped. "I never understood that...!"  
  
"Well, Kurama..." Koenma bit hard against his pacifier in strain to explain. "...since you have all your demonic traits, you are the demon parent...Botan, however, is the human one...er, more or less..." he drew back in thought, seeing at the bubbly ferry girl wasn't to the truest of technicalities a real human. "...and, because your children are in fact half demon half human as a result of this pairing between you and Botan, their genes were tampered with in such a way that wouldn't conform to either species. They're spines were perfectly capable to grow in the womb because the human half of them sped their spine formation rather quickly."  
  
"I see..." Kurama drew his brilliant eyes aside...he then shifted in a weighed sigh. "...now to explain this to Botan without her falling unconscious at it's mere sight..."  
  
Kuwabara's onyx eyes quickly ventured for the watch strapped about his wrist. "GAH!" he gasped sharply, his companions glancing for his immediate direction. "The kids! We gotta go pick them up!"  
  
"They're teenagers...they're all part demon...they're fine..." Hiei's calm eyes were pressed shut as he breathed his bit into the scene.  
  
"No, I believe we should go to escort them ho-" Kurama began, before a certain toddler coughed hard to intercede into the fox's sentence.  
  
"Actually, Kurama...Botan is still working, so maybe you'd better go and tell her about the tail issue now...she should be getting back from her latest assignment at any time."  
  
"But...my children..." Kurama began in protest.  
  
"...paranoia..." Hiei half-sang, half-sighed through a smug smirk.  
  
"I, am, NOT, paranoid!"  
  
"Kurama," Koenma's stern caramel eyes set narrow. "Go and tell Botan...your kids will be fine...because Hiei is going to follow them home."  
  
"Nani?!" the Dragon pricked, instantly jerking from his lazy lean to the wall.  
  
"Hiei, just do it...you and your sister live in the same neighborhood, so Ryuuhayai will walk home with Kane-" the toddler Lord strained to ease the Dragon to agreement.  
  
"You're merely fueling his paranoia, Koenma..." Hiei's dagger eyes narrowed firm.  
  
"Hiei..." Kurama half-sighed.  
  
A long pause, emerald locking against ruby. "FINE..." the Dragon growled. "But just so you know, your daughter is a worthy opponent, so you really shouldn't worry of her well-being..."  
  
With that, the Koorime of Flame blurred against the air, grunting his trademark 'hn'.  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
"Botan!" the humanoid fox-wolf called into the checkout station. "Botan! Are you there?"  
  
"Wee!!" a bubbly lighthearted voice giggled into the vast chambers of the Spirit World's marble halls. Kurama smiled broadly as the bluette eased her rower to a halt before her red-headed mate. "Kurama!!" she leapt off the sturdy oar, the wood instantly evaporating into nothingness, and was caught from her spry jump by Kurama's steady hold. The ferry girl pecked a smooth kiss to her husband's lips and eased back slightly, her ivory hands still clasping to his sleeves as he stood with his hands to her waist. She had changed a bit...though she was still as delicately slender and beautiful as ever, and her raspberry eyes were still wide with bubbly innocence, her hair had changed dramatically...it was now to her chin in length, worn in a bushy side part, the majority of the hair to the right, with a single emerald strip down that half. She no longer wore her trademark pink kimono...now about her slim frame she wore one of midnight blue with silver layers, emerald markings, and a teal bodice *a/n: whatever that thing you wear with a kimono is lol*. Her happy grin sparked a smile to Kurama's tired lips.  
  
"Honey! What are you doing here?" she beamed, drawing away in thought. "Hmm...it's not my birthday...it's not Valentine's day...it's not YOUR birthday...and it's not our anniversary...you don't usually drop by to visit me at work unless it's something along those lines..." her breaths then shortened in realization. "Oh no! Is it your birthday?!-"  
  
"-Botan-" he smiled calmly.  
  
"-Could it really be Valentine's day already?!-"  
  
"-Botan...-" his naturally narrow emerald eyes tucked back in a slight roll.  
  
"-or is it our anniversary?! Oh I KNEW I forgot something!"  
  
"-Botan-" he pulsed in a half-annoyed sigh.  
  
"-No that's not it...Omigosh! Is it MY birthday and I forgot?! Oh Kurama honey I'm sorry I've just been so overwor-"  
  
"-Botan!" he eyed her sternly, gently pressing his fingertips to her lips. "Darling...you didn't forget anything!"  
  
"Oh..." she blinked slowly. "Then why are you here? You know I would normally be home by now..."  
  
His voice was chaffed dry in the farthest depths of his throat, and despite his calm smile and gentle countenance, his eyes seemed to lack sincerity.  
  
"Kura?" she eyed him curiously, her chin tipping sideways as she piped his nickname gently. "What's wrong?"  
  
His brilliantly narrow gaze slowly scanned for behind, the luster of the emerald sheepishly locking in the sight of a bushy mass of silver trailing behind him. Before her raspberry eyes could follow after his towards the left, she felt a strange brushing sensation easing up and down her right thigh. The ferry girl jerked her sights towards it, and shock was her only immediate reaction.  
  
"AH!" she yelped, leaping up into her husband's arms. Kurama was slightly taken aback, instantly binding her close, until he realized his tail had subconsciously slipped towards her leg and grazed her. He chuckled sheepishly, easing his protective brace to a looser hug.  
  
"Well...that's what I needed to tell you about, Darling..."  
  
"Y...you...you have a, have a...?!"  
  
"Well...it may somewhat explain why Ai and Kisho were both born with them..."  
  
Botan could only bob her broadened gaze back to the platinum mass of fox- like bushiness, and tightened her slender fingers to the gnarled grip of his sleeves.  
  
"...you may touch it, if you wish, Love..." the fox smirked calmly. Botan responded with a quick jerk of her head. "You'd best get used to it..."  
  
The bluette could only wince slightly with insecurity, and slowly eased her long hand for the smoothly flicking tail. She brushed to it gently, her husband smiling reassuringly.  
  
"See? It won't be so awkward with it now will it?" he grinned.  
  
"I...I suppose not..." she smiled reluctantly. "No, of course not, Dear!"  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
*Anemone's attic...she, Kurama, and Hiei, Hiei in MASSIVE reluctance, have managed to dig out her brother's old drum set and her guitar...Kurama moved Anemone's keyboard up to the attic, where practice sessions will be held...btw, plot starts in next chapter*  
  
Anemone: *on phone with Anneliese* yup.............yeah.................we were hoping you'd be our bassist....................YAY! Okay we're here about to start practicing....get here as quickly as- *Anneliese suddenly appears in the room, Kurama, and Hiei yelping in surprise...Anemone blinks slowly* ....possible....  
  
Hiei: Liese how the hell did you do that?!  
  
*note: first off, Hiei of the story and Hiei of the skits are completely separate, as are the Kuramas...even though story-Hiei is married and seems about forty-something, skit-Hiei is single and is still in the mind-set of a teenager lol...haha lucky Anneliese...btw Kurama is still about fifteen in the skits, too.*  
  
Anneliese: *grin* at Mones's party, I got Goku to teach me Instant Transmission!  
  
Anemone: COOL! I wanna learn how!! OOH! I'm gonna go see him right now about that...  
  
Kurama: erm...Anemone? The band?  
  
Anemone: huh? OH! THAT! Teehee! *begins to tune guitar*  
  
Hiei: *sitting behind drums, eyeing the drum sticks Kurama gave him curiously* what the hell do I do with these?  
  
Anemone: um...how do I explain this...  
  
Anneliese: you bash them against the tops of the drums. *brief pause*  
  
Hiei: hn...human music is far too easy...and to think I once thought Linkin Park was ingenius, when all the while a child could perform such motions! *starts ramming sticks against tops of drums, making random, loud, out-of- sync bam noises...a/n, Linkin Park IS ingenius!!!!*  
  
Anemone Kurama and Anneliese: AHH! *covers ears, cowers heads*  
  
Hiei: *hits the symbol too hard, it flings off really quickly and strikes Kurama in the head, Kurama instantly collapsing unconscious*  
  
Hiei: *suddenly stops* that was simple! This band business will be far easier than you described, Onna!  
  
Anemone: Fox?! *shakes Kurama, his eyes rolled back in his head*  
  
Anneliese: Hiei you idiot!  
  
Hiei: what?! I merely followed your very instructions, woman! You dare insult me?!  
  
Anneliese: you screwed up! Yeah I dare insult you! *Hiei glares REALLY narrowly*  
  
Anemone: Fox wake up!! Please?! *Kurama begins to drool slightly*  
  
Hiei: *brief pause* he's fine.  
  
Mirai Trunks: *enters, carrying turn-table set* Mones?  
  
Anemone: Future! Thank God you're here!  
  
Mirai Trunks: *notices knocked-out Kurama* what the-?! What happened to him?!  
  
Anneliese: *glares at Hiei* SOMEONE-hiei-screwed up, and that SOMEONE-hiei- sent a symbol flying straight for Kurama's head!  
  
Hiei: you exaggerate human. He's fine.  
  
Anemone Mirai Trunks and Anneliese: *long pause, blink slowly for Kurama, who's drooling slightly, the emerald of his eyes rolled back into his head...they look back at Hiei annoyed*  
  
Hiei: *brief pause* ...hn.  
  
Anemone: *grunt, heavy sigh, turns to readers* while we deal with this and wait for Ellen, you go review, pleasm...latr! 


	2. A Visit from the Buried Past

*Anemone's attic...Ellen's arrived...and Kurama's...well...still knocked out...but, on a lighter note, Mirai Trunks was able to teach Hiei how to play the drums in an hour's time, and since Hiei's REALLY quick at adapting, he's actually become a VERY good drummer*  
  
Anemone: *first to notice readers, tuning her guitar* hey there!! We actually got into practicing a song! We've got the music all set but...*turns to the far corner, Kurama propped against the wall* we can't practice the vocals until our lead is...well, you know...conscious...  
  
Mirai Trunks: *examining Kurama's injury again* Hiei really plowed him a good one to the head...  
  
Hiei: for the last time!! He's FINE!  
  
Everyone: *blinks at Kurama, brief pause, glares at Hiei*  
  
Ellen: Hiei, um...NO! You decked him upside the head with a freakin' symbol! He looks dead!  
  
Anemone: *pokes Kurama* hmm...he doesn't SEEM to be dead...  
  
Hiei: Kitsune is strong. Leave him alone. He'll wake up...eventually...tomorrow tops...  
  
Ellen: TOMORROW?!  
  
Anemone and Mirai Trunks: *heavy annoyed sighs*   
  
Anemone: looks like we gotta put a hold on practicing...  
  
Ellen: but...  
  
Anneliese: ...but?  
  
Ellen: but...!  
  
Mirai Trunks: what?  
  
Ellen: erm...I kinda need him to wake up...like, now...  
  
Anneliese: why?  
  
Ellen: er...  
  
Hiei: *looks reeeeeeeeally narrowly at her* what did you do...?  
  
Ellen: I already planned a gig.  
  
Anemone and Mirai Trunks: WHAT?!  
  
Anemone: for when?!?  
  
Ellen: er...  
  
Mirai Trunks: er?! What does 'er' mean?!  
  
Ellen: ...soon-ish...  
  
Anneliese: how soon...?  
  
Ellen: like...really soon...  
  
Hiei: ...like, next week type of soon...?  
  
Ellen: no...  
  
Mirai Trunks: then what...?  
  
Ellen: like...tonight...  
  
Everyone: WHAT?!!  
  
Anemone: *shakes Kurama* FOX! WAKE UP!! *jerks him back with every word* WE, NEED, YOUR, VOICE!! AND, YOUR, PIANO SKILLS!!! *shaking him frantically*  
  
Mirai Trunks: okay...okay everyone calm down...  
  
Hiei: dammit...*turns to Anemone* what the hell are we going to do, Onna?   
  
Anneliese: Hiei, you knocked him out...WAKE HIM UP!!  
  
Hiei: how the hell am I supposed to do that?!  
  
Mirai Trunks: hmm...*walks out of the room, re-enters holding a rose*  
  
Anemone: Future...?  
  
Mirai Trunks: wave this in front of his nose, Mones.  
  
Anemone: OH MY GOD YOU'RE A GENIUS, TRUNKS!! *pecks him on the cheek, takes rose, waves it in front of Kurama's nose*  
  
Kurama: *begins to stir slightly, and, still mostly unconscious smiles* mm...Botan...  
  
Anemone Anneliese and Ellen: huh?  
  
Kurama: *still partially unconscious, jerks at Anemone and frenches her*  
  
Anemone: *muffled, wide-eyed* Mfhf?!?!   
  
Mirai Trunks: *blushing insanely in anger* KURAMA!!  
  
Anemone: *decks him upside the head* FOX!  
  
Kurama: *jerking in all directions, confused and scared, rubbing his head, not remembering what he just did in his sleep* what?! What happened?!  
  
Anemone and Mirai Trunks: *both blushing insanely* I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DID THAT!!  
  
Kurama: what?! What did I do?!  
  
Hiei: LOL...*collapses off his drummer stool in laughter* ...my GOD Kitsune!! PRICELESS! LOL LOL!!   
  
Kurama: what happened?! Why's everyone yelling at me?!  
  
Anneliese and Ellen: *snicker* WOW...lol...  
  
Mirai Trunks: *growling to himself, still blushing*   
  
Hiei: *still hysterical*  
  
Kurama: what, did, I, DO?!  
  
Anemone: *grunts in frustration, turns to readers, still blushing* erm...apparently he thought I was Botan-  
  
Kurama: -oh my God, I did?! Mones what did I do to you?!-  
  
Anemone: -but, erm...no harm done, I guess-  
  
Mirai Trunks: -what do you mean by that?!  
  
Anemone: shh! Okay I gotta go talk to my boyfriend-  
  
Hiei: -lol who, Kurama?  
  
Anemone: NO! MIRAI TRUNKS!!  
  
Kurama: for the last time!! WHAT DID I DO?!  
  
Anneliese: *leans over, whispers the story to him, Kurama slowly growing a little wide-eyed*  
  
Kurama: oh my...*looks a little scared at Mirai Trunks* um...heh?  
  
Mirai Trunks: *grunting to himself, trying to reassure himself that it didn't mean anything* he was unconscious...he was unconscious...he was unconscious...  
  
Hiei: *a single tear at his eyes from the laughter, slowly calming down* ah...to experience the embarrassment and trauma of the people I am forced to come in immediate contact with...life is good...  
  
Anemone: Future...?   
  
Mirai Trunks: *still trying to stifle anger* ...he was unconscious...he was unconscious...he was-  
  
Ellen: it would seem everyone has...issues...*turns to face behind her, Trunks ignoring everyone as he tries to justify what Kurama did, Hiei laying on the floor, tired from his laughter and staring up at the ceiling smirking, Anneliese patting Kurama on the shoulder as he sits awkwardly, Anemone rubbing Trunks's back reassuringly* so, uh...oh yeah! *faces Kurama* we have a gig tonight.  
  
Kurama: WHAT?!  
  
Anneliese and Hiei: oh yeah! I forgot about that...  
  
Anemone: yeah-how-bout-we-forget-bout-the-whole-kiss-issue-and-get-into-practicing-the-song?-K?-K!-EVERYONE!! TO YOUR INSTRUMENTS!!   
  
*brief pause...Hiei, still snickering, slowly wobbles to a stand and plops back onto his stool, gracefully fingering his drumsticks in twirled motions...Mirai Trunks stands in reluctance until Anemone pecks him on the cheek and he smiles slightly, walking over to his turn-tables...Anneliese slips on her bass guitar and picks at the cords, tuning it slightly...Kurama, still kind of blank and awkward feeling, stands up and assumes a seat to the keyboard, apologizing sheepishly to Trunks...Anemone eases her guitar over her shoulder, cracks neck, and clicks on her microphone.*  
  
Anemone: okay...we're gonna practice with Fox's vocals and keyboarding...you guys get into the chapter...ready?!  
  
Everyone: yeah!  
  
Anemone: *into the microphone, smooth and fast like a fifties DJ* comin' in town, let's wind it all down, but only for a minute; we're gonna blast it high, shake up the sky, read and come back, now let's freakin' SING IT!!!   
  
Chapter 3: A Visit from the Buried Past  
  
'I cannot believe how damn irrational Kitsune can be about his kids' safety...' Hiei seethed to himself in irritation has his intensive speed carried him as a streak of wind through the city. 'Koenma is a fool...by sending me he is depriving Kurama of a very important lesson...'  
  
He jerked to a halt, perched to a tree limb with the twisted masses of branches and leaves locking him in near invisibility. He was concealed to the tree just beyond the school's bordering walls, the six descendants of the Urimeshi team each making his or her exit.  
  
'...how to let them go.' he thought tenderly, casting soft-sharp eyes for Ryuuhayai, the girl smirking haughtily to her tall cousin, having confused Kane about some petty matter. 'Ryuu...my little girl...' she seemed so adult-like, now...too adult-like...she had matured to a speed rivaling her very sprints. And Hiei hated it. '...you grew up...why did you have to grow up, Ryuu?'   
  
The Dragon shook his head firmly, blinking stubbornly from his consuming thoughts. 'All I must do is stalk Ai and Kisho home...no worries, two miles a walk...then I can go...'   
  
"Ai," Ryuuhayai focused her dagger ruby eyes for the girl's immediate direction as she threw her gothic, black sling bag over her shoulder.  
  
"Yes?" the red-head inquired calmly, holding her leather briefcase to her hip.  
  
"Are you heading home or elsewhere?"  
  
'Please say home, Kitsuna...' Hiei thought half-bitterly. '...I have to go back to the Spirit World...'  
  
"Ho-" she pricked halfway through, her raspberry eyes stinging wide.  
  
"Ai?" Yukio eased beside her in concern, the fox instantly jerking her stern glare over her shoulder.   
  
"What is it?" Kane tucked his hands to the bowels of his pockets, eyeing the girl with onyx sincerity.   
  
"Erm..." she half-grunted half-calmly. Hiei too pricked in realization.   
  
'A demon! Oh shit no, Kitsuna don't you DARE-'  
  
"I just remembered...I, have a report due tomorrow...I need to go to the library..." she slowly turned in her leisurely stride for the opposite direction of her friends, and began a calm walk towards the demonic ki that rang her senses. Her tail was abnormally sharp with the fur standing on end...only her brother took note of the change.  
  
'Something is wrong...' Kisho deduced instantly at the sight of her tail. 'It only looks like that when she's anxious...' "Ai...?"  
  
"Head home with the others, Kisho..." her voice breathed sternly without a motion towards her comrades.  
  
"But Ai!" Gakilei practically whined. "We were supposed to go to the movies tonight!"  
  
Yukio stepped up beside his twin. "And since when do you forget to complete a homework assignment in advance?"  
  
Ai continued her emotionless walk, her naturally narrow eyes set firm before her.   
  
'DAMN!' Hiei growled to himself. 'This just makes my seemingly pointless mission harder!' he cast half-annoyed eyes for the kids below, all oblivious to his presence. Let one.  
  
Red eyes set in a milky complection side-glanced upwards into the depths of the tree, stabbing straight at Hiei. 'Father?' Ryuuhayai's thoughts rang smooth to the Dragon's head.  
  
'Ryuu...make sure Kisho makes it home safely,' he thought in return.  
  
'What's the significance in that?' she countered in suspicion.  
  
'Later.' he smirked sternly, flashing from the tree without so much as a rustling leaf via his motion. Ryuuhayai's glare narrowed in annoyance, her expression matching her young father's to a scary fault.   
  
"Hn..." she grunted lowly.   
  
"Ryuu?" a voice pricked her to attention, the girl jerking half-calmly to face her cousin, eyeing down at her with curiosity smogging his dark eyes.  
  
"Nothing. Let's go."  
  
"Hey where's your dad, Ryuu?" Gakilei voiced her observation, Yukio nodding in agreement. "He's usually here...Hiei?" the girl turned towards the tree where the Dragon had stood a moment prior. "HIEI! YOU THERE?" a pause. "Hm...where is he?"  
  
"Dunno. Let's go." the she-dragon ended promptly, whirling in her footing towards home.  
  
"Ryuuhayai?" Kisho coiled his ivory hand about her slender wrist, the dragon jerking her sights upwards. Ruby stung corrosive against smooth emerald as the two exchanged a deep glance.   
  
*a/n Kisho is like a foot taller than Ryuuhayai lol...Kane is Kuwabara's height, Yukio is Yusuke's, Gakilei is Keiko's, Ai is Botan's, Ryuuhayai is Hiei's, and Kisho is Kurama's*  
  
"Let's go..." she jerked away, stalking morbidly from her companions. The group passed awkward glances before trailing silently after her. 'Father...' she thought bitterly. 'You better not let anything happen to Ai...I felt a huge demonic power in the direction she was heading, and just like Kurama she's a very bad liar...'  
  
'Calm Ryuu...' Hiei thought back, just within her Jagon's reach. '...precisely why I left. Keep an eye on Kisho for me.' he then dashed just beyond her third eye's limits.  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
Ai walked along with steps on the cusp of briskness and calmness. The hairs on the very tip of her tail stood on end as anticipation racked her senses. 'A huge demonic power...yet...it feels...familiar...'  
  
In truth she had never experienced this particular ki's sensation...but there was something about it that triggered an intimate link between herself and it's holder...there was a strange, smooth feel to it that was almost identical to that of a relation of her's, yet, it differed slightly...this demon had some sort of connection with her...but she had yet to realize exactly what it was.  
  
'Damn...' Hiei husked to himself. '...she's good...she's already realized it's not some random demon...hn! Why can't I remember who this is?! I've felt it before...this specific ki...but, it was so long ago...who is it, dammit?!'  
  
Ai's steps clicked against the concrete of the shadowed sidewalk in an even pace, her candy eyes narrowed to suit the seriousness of the matter. Something very important was up, and an eerie calmness hazed throughout the area.  
  
Her form stalked calmly by an open alleyway, darkness streaming moist over the depths of the gap she passed. Suddenly, two veiled arms pierced outward at the passing girl, clasping about her mouth and waist. The startled girl was ripped from her footing into the darkness just to her left.  
  
"AI!" Hiei gaped, slipping smoothly from his perch to a tree and racing for the alleyway.  
  
"MFF!" the girl struggled against the chest of a rowdy street punk. Hiei melted to the shadows, pinning against the wall, waiting for the opportune moment to jump in.  
  
"Hey there, pretty girl!" the punk, sweating and breathing coarsely in anticipation, eyed his lovely prey over. Perfect figure...stunning hair...flawless features...his face was glossed over with a sheen of sweat and a maniacal sneer. He grazed his nose into her bushy mane, inhaling the sweet aroma of summer roses. He snickered through a tense, vigorous smirk. "You look tasty!" he stroked his tongue against her temple, the girl whimpering in anger and irritation and grunting against his filthy hand to her mouth.  
  
Hiei growled deeply, about to pounce from the shadows to her aid, when he noticed something. 'Her eyes...!'  
  
The trademark pink of Ai Minamino swelled in color...and stained golden for the briefest of instances.   
  
'Her wolf side!'  
  
The rapist drew out a long dagger, the blade smooth with a silvery gleam...she bit hard against his greasy hand, and her eyes once again sparked golden, before she pulled a signature Kurama.  
  
"ROSE WHIP!" she roared...Hiei pricked in amazement. Her slender hands bound behind her, she only had one option...her whip wound about the length of her mane, and with perfectly timed and massively precise jerks of her head, the whip lashed in such a way only Kurama was thought to have been able to control. The tip cracked against the rapist's chin, shooting him back against the stone wall of the building just behind. The slash sent the whip hazing over in a streaked motion, and with a jerk of her neck it struck backwards. Within a mere blink of the eye she had torn it from her bushy mane and cracked it smoothly against the air, into the punk's thighs...the skin ripped on impact, the rapist screaming in pain.  
  
"Now you've nowhere to run, you foolish human," her stinging raspberry eyes burned against the screaming rapist's smoggy blue ones. "...if you're to rape anyone..." she smirked. "Be sure it is not a young woman with deadly defenses."  
  
She then flicked her wrist sharply in a short jerk, and the very tip of her whip stabbed against his temple, knocking him out instantly. "Really...raping? Truly a horror on our streets." Her eyes dimmed slightly. "No wonder father never allowed me to trail about on my own."  
  
Hiei was stunned. The she-fox was a marvel beyond words! She had performed a famous twist to her father's technique, with only his perfection. He clicked from his consuming thoughts as the girl approached the sidewalk yet again, the Dragon blurring to a distance.  
  
He grunted a smirk to himself with pride. "Impressive, Kitsuna...I knew your father was paranoid...hn."  
  
Again she locked her focus about the familiar demonic ki. It swelled within her an almost warm feeling of security, but her tail pricked to the tips of the fur, slight insecurity veiling over her. "I shouldn't have gone alone...I should have at least brought Ryuuhayai..."  
  
'Damn straight...' Hiei grunted in half-annoyance. 'This demon is powerful...I can only imagine who it could be, there's no way of telling...I've met my share of demons and a tenfold...damn! I wish I could remember who this one is!'  
  
Her walk had led her from the sidewalks to the park, trees and lawn rolling onward for a certain distance. Security welled within her in swelling rolls come every beat of her heart. 'Flowers...' she smiled. '...beauty...and defense. If need be, I've access to extra weaponry.'  
  
'Always thinking like a true Minamino,' Hiei smirked after probing her head, but without making his presence known. He sat nimbly to a tree overlooking the girl, his corrosive ruby eyes softening just slightly.  
  
'Whoever this demon is, he better not lay a hand on my niece...'   
  
Rustle. Raspberry jerked narrowly for a far-off bush, the fragile leaves still swaying from an unnatural motion pressed to them. Her face tensed with a glare of headstrongness, her teeth gritting slightly. Hiei too was impeccably alert, grunting soft breaths with every sound his demonic ears picked out from the masses of noise polluting the entire city.  
  
Her tail flicked sharply, abandoned by it's normality of graceful sways. Her posture was firm and straight, bold and prepared. 'He's here...the demon...'  
  
Suddenly, a distillation in the air vibrated against the senses of both Dragon and Demi-Fox. A violently fast demon raced to just behind her, coiling his eerily milky grip about her tail, and jerking firmly.  
  
"AHHHHH!!!" the girl screamed in pain, instantly binding her delicate hands to her rear and tenderly holding her hurt tail the moment it was released from the merciless clutch.  
  
Hiei grunted a wide-eyed expression. "It...it can't be...!"  
  
Ai whipped around furiously, tears stinging at her eyes from the intensity of the pain. But her narrowed, angered eyes were met with nothing. Laughter pulsed into the air just behind her. She lashed around almost in fear, and was met with a shock of a sight.  
  
There, before her, stood a seven-foot-tall demon of fox-like origin, a ghostly skin tone of milky white, and a sleek, lower-back length mane of blood scarlet. His face mirrored that of a murderous apparition, yet his emerald eyes held happy, thorough, innocent laughter. He was near identical to a wolf demon, with a sleek ruby tail and flicking crimson fox ears to crown his head.  
  
"Who are you?!" she snarled firmly, still gripping her fragile tail. "Why did you attack me?!"  
  
"Clasping hold of your tail was hardly attacking, Missy," he countered calmly, an innocent smirk about his narrow face as his left ear pinned to his scalp for a moment.  
  
"But it HURT!" she groaned, massaging the tender bruise he pinched to it.  
  
Hiei was lost in fear. "...not him...it can't be! If he's here...then...then...!!"  
  
"It's a means of playing in the world of Fox demons, Missy," his smile softened kindly.  
  
"You're no Fox demon..." she smirked, her slender eyebrow tugging upward. "...not entirely, anyway..."  
  
"Wow!" he blinked gaping eyes in amazement. "You really are just like your Father, Missy!"  
  
"Why are you in the human world? You're an obvious demon, and with your power it must have been difficult to slip through the dimensions..." Ai half-snarled.  
  
"You're good, Missy," he raised an eyebrow with an impressed smirk. "...normally little half-breeds no nothing of their demonic heritage."  
  
"How dare you!" she squealed in offense.   
  
"Calm down, Missy...I was just kidding ya...but, really..." his laughing eyes narrowed slightly, the rest of his character lacking in change. "...I need to see Yoko."   
  
"What do you want with him?!" she pulled back defensively, a feel of stubbornness overtaking her character.  
  
"You know, Missy...I'd find you MUCH more intimidating if your tail wasn't betraying you..." he chuckled calmly.  
  
"What do you mean by that?!"  
  
"I can read your tail like a book...it abandons you by allowing your hidden emotions to seep through...Missy, you're terrified of me."  
  
"I am not!" she countered firmly. He merely chuckled.  
  
"Lying is bad karma." he raised an eyebrow in sync to a smirk.  
  
"Be quiet! Tell me your business with my father!"  
  
"Fine...I shall...I'm obviously not going to get anywhere with simply asking of his whereabouts..." he slowly pressed his flashing emerald eyes to a close.   
  
A brief pause linked the two in an air of anxiety. "Hello, Ai," he smiled softly. "I'm Uncle Ryooki."  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
*p3, the club from "charmed"...this is where Ellen made their first gig...Mirai Trunks is setting up, Ellen is talking to Piper (who in case you don't know is the owner), Kurama is running through the list of songs with Anneliese and Hiei...and Anemone is freaking out in back*  
  
Mirai Trunks: ...Mones...? *finds her inhaling into a paper bag* my gosh are you okay?! *Anneliese and Kurama walk in*  
  
Anneliese: *pats Anemone on the shoulder* still at it, eh?  
  
Anemone: *nods frantically while breathing into the paper bag*  
  
Mirai Trunks: *sits down next to her* Mones, c'mon...calm down...this is our big chance!  
  
Anemone: *wide-eyed, starts breathing harder*  
  
Kurama: erm...I'm not entirely sure that helped...  
  
Ellen: *bounces into the room, really happy* GUYS! Piper told me it's gonna be a full house!  
  
Anemone: *bag pops* *pause, everyone kind of side-glances*  
  
Mirai Trunks: Mones, are you gonna be able to do this...?  
  
Anemone: *starts hyperventilating again* NEED...PAPER...BAG!...  
  
Kurama: *runs to get her another bag*  
  
Ellen: is she okay...?  
  
Anemone: *steadily straining more and more to breath*  
  
Hiei: *walks in* *heavy annoyed sigh* she's STILL freaking out?!  
  
Anneliese: be quiet! Poor Mones! *Anemone clutching REALLY hard to Mirai Trunks's arm while hyperventilating*  
  
Mirai Trunks: ow, ow, ow! OW!  
  
Kurama: *rushes back with a paper bag, puts it to her face* Mones! Please, breath! In, out...in, out...in-  
  
Hiei: you fools...you obviously don't know what it takes to calm a human's frazzled senses...  
  
Mirai Trunks: *grunting from pain, Anemone still gripping into his arm* DO TELL!  
  
Hiei: *blurs in a run, reappears with a bottle of Irish Whiskey*  
  
Kurama: alcohol?!  
  
Hiei: trust me, Kitsune. *pushes everyone aside, slowly rips paper bag from Anemone's clutch, and forces the open bottle neck into her mouth*  
  
Everyone: GAH?!  
  
Anemone: *drinks, slowly calms down*   
  
Hiei: *gently rips bottle free* see? Good as new.  
  
Anemone: *hic*  
  
Mirai Trunks: is she drunk?!  
  
Anemone: no ocifer, I is not drunk! *hic*  
  
Kurama: *slowly let's head hang* oh no...  
  
Hiei: er...yeah...*shifty eyes* this is EXACTLY what I intended on...*pause*  
  
Anemone: *hic*  
  
*continues pause, everyone glares at him* er...*pause, blurs away*  
  
Mirai Trunks: what are we going to do?! *slowly helps Anemone to a stand*  
  
Anemone: tonight, *hic* we ride, Winston! *collapses into Kurama*  
  
Anneliese: *turns to Ellen* how long til we're on?!  
  
Ellen: *looks at watch* two hours.  
  
Mirai Trunks: we have to sober her up! *helps Kurama hold her up*  
  
Kurama: *turns to Ellen* go get us a LOT of water...  
  
Ellen: right! *rushes off*  
  
Anneliese: er...while they do that, go review, please.  
  
Anemone: BORN, IN THE USA! DA, DADADADADADADA DUM...!! 


	3. Brothers

*a/n: okay, one person has been kinda...impatient about the lack of action...well, let me explain why I didn't jump instantly into a battle with this one as I did with "From the Fox's Eyes"...see, this story revolves partially around the following generation, which doesn't exist in the YYH series, and partially on Kurama and Hiei...and I first had to establish what these new characters were like...but don't worry...by the next chapter, violence will occur...muahahaha!!*   
  
*p3...2 minutes before Anemone's band, Corrosive, is set to play...and Anemone's just barely starting to sober up*  
  
Anneliese: dammit Hiei! At least when she was hyperventilating, she wasn't acting like a freak!  
  
Hiei: what the hell did you expect?! She's Irish! She gets drunk easily!!  
  
Anemone: *hic* oo...migraine...zaza...woo...OOH! LOOKY! PEOPLES!! Lotses...woo...teehee I'm dizzy...weee! *collapses into Mirai Trunks*  
  
Ellen: what are we going to do?!  
  
Mirai Trunks: hmm...oh! I've got an idea!  
  
Kurama: what?!  
  
Mirai Trunks: I'll go back in time, and stop Hiei from getting her drunk!  
  
Kurama, Ellen, Anneliese: *long pause, blinks at Anemone, Anemone wobbling* DO IT!  
  
Mirai Trunks: okay, here goes nothing...*whips out his time-machine capsule, pops it, and climbs in...presses in coordinates and disappears*  
  
*118 minutes into the past, Trunks runs out of his time machine to backstage*  
  
*Mirai Trunks hears part of the conversation replaying*   
  
Kurama: Mones! Please, breath! In, out...in, out...in-  
  
Hiei: you fools...you obviously don't know what it takes to calm a human's frazzled senses...  
  
Mirai Trunks of the past: *grunting from pain, Anemone still gripping into his arm* DO TELL!  
  
Hiei: *blurs in a run, reappears with a bottle of Irish Whiskey*  
  
Kurama: alcohol?!  
  
Hiei: trust me, Kitsune.   
  
Mirai Trunks of the Future: *runs out at them* NOO! Don't trust him!!  
  
MTOTP: what the-?! Me?!  
  
MTOTF: yeah, me, it's me...listen! Do NOT give Mones the Irish Whiskey!!  
  
Hiei: why not?!  
  
MTOTF: BECAUSE! She gets drunk and we can't perform!! It's going to ruin our big break!!  
  
*brief pause*   
  
MTOTP: *looks really serious* are you sure...? How can we know you're really me? I've had androids claim to be the future version of me before...*brief pause, MTOTF staring at him like he's an idiot*  
  
MTOTF: YOU IDIOT! Don't give her the whiskey!!  
  
Anemone: don't...I...have...a...say...in...this?!  
  
MTOTF: you wanna have a successful band?  
  
Anemone: *still hyperventilating* ...yeah...  
  
MTOTF: that's your say...in fact...*takes whiskey from Hiei, blasts it with ki* HA! Now she can't get drunk! *goes back to his time*  
  
Everyone: *side-glances, Anemone still hyperventilating...118 minutes later*  
  
Mirai Trunks: okay! Just two more minutes!  
  
Hiei: I still say we should've given her the Whiskey...*turns to Anemone, who's cowering behind Kurama, still hyperventilating*  
  
Kurama: Mones? Please, calm down!   
  
Anemone: ...CAN'T...BREATH...! *Kurama helps her hold a paper bag to her mouth*  
  
Anneliese: maybe we should've given her the Whiskey after all...  
  
Hiei: SEE! SOMEONE agrees with me! It would have worked!  
  
Ellen: okay, team! We're on in one minute!  
  
Anemone: *bag pops*   
  
Ellen: *heavy sigh* *takes out pills* Here, Mones...take one of these-*suddenly, MTOTF appears again, and rushes over to them*  
  
MTOTF: people, please! Don't give her anything! That'll make things even worse than the Whiskey! *ki blasts the pills, and angrily goes back to the future*  
  
Kurama: erm...apparently we shouldn't give her anything at all...  
  
Anneliese: then what are we gonna do?!  
  
Mirai Trunks: hm...Mones, sweety? *takes her aside* please calm down...we need you...please? *puppy dog eyes*  
  
Anemone: *still hyperventilating, clasps onto his forearms* I...CAN'T...DO THIS!!  
  
Mirai Trunks: c'mon...you'll be fine...pwease? *bigger puppy dog eyes*  
  
Kurama: we're on.  
  
Anemone: AHH! *tries to run away, but Mirai Trunks scoops her up against her will and carries her right to the edge of the stage*   
  
Mirai Trunks: Honey! We'll be fine! Just go out there, and don't make any eye contact with any of the audience, okay? Focus on the floor and the far wall, only make it LOOK like you're interested in looking at everyone...okay? Please?  
  
Anemone: *about to black out*  
  
Hiei: Onna! We have to go out onto the stage, now...get your guitar or taste my Katana!  
  
Mirai Trunks: don't threaten her!  
  
Anemone: eep! *scared of his Katana, rushes to get guitar and runs out onto stage along with Anneliese and Kurama*  
  
Mirai Trunks: *blank look* Mones...?!  
  
Hiei: hn *smirk* get to your post, Saiyan...  
  
Mirai Trunks: er...heh, *slight timid smirk* right...*walks out onto stage heading for turn-tables*  
  
Ellen: YAY! Everything's working out! Wait a second...Hiei! Get to the drums! NOW!  
  
Hiei: *glare* hn...*slowly walks to the drum set*  
  
Ellen: Yay! Okay, *turns to readers* go into the chapter...chappie 4, enjoy!!   
  
Chapter 4: Brothers   
  
"Ry...Ryooki?!" Ai quivered in astonishment, completely allowing herself to sink in an abys of her scared emotions. "...the, THE, Ryooki?!"  
  
"You've heard of me, Missy?" he smiled gently, the girl pressing a step back in a defensive stance.  
  
"Yes, I have..." she glared narrowly. "Ryooki...brother of Yoko Kurama, son to Jiaanti and Grapko..."  
  
"...if you know of me, why are scared?" he inquired in slight confusion.  
  
"How do I know you're not being controlled by one of those demonic devices?" she countered firmly. Hiei growled, bowing in stance in preparation to dash to her aid. "You battled against my father, in an attempt to kill him!"  
  
"Do I give off the sensation of evil to you, Missy?"  
  
"You may not seem it, but how am I to really know you're not being manipulated?!" the teenager growled half-calmly with narrowed eyes. "You were yourself, but fought my father! How am I to truly believe that's not your reason for seeking him, now, after all this time?! To kill him, while being under another's control?!"   
  
"You're good, Missy," the fox-wolf smiled calmly. "...you're good to not trust anyone. That's an expected trait of demons."  
  
"I am only half demon!" she spat. "I am not one of you!"  
  
"Missy..." he breathed sternly, a tone that sent a ripple of goosebumps to roll smoothly over her flesh. "...we are more alike than you could possibly know."  
  
"We are not!!" she roared in anger. "I'm not an easily corrupted demon!"  
  
"Ai!" he half-growled in frustration, his dagger fangs partially exposed. Pause, a blink of time untainted by words or breaths. "I need to speak with Kurama! Where is he?!"  
  
"I will not tell you! I cannot betray him in such a way!"  
  
A pause, silence laced between the stubborn girl and the patient fox-wolf. Slowly, Ryooki's eyes pressed shut, and, with his right ear pinning to his scalp briefly, he turned briskly in his footing and began a leisurely stride away from his headstrong niece. "Missy, you're too much like Yoko."  
  
"Hmpf!" she grunted firmly, refusing to move until her uncle was beyond view and ki readings, no matter how long that was to take.   
  
"Missy," the fox-wolf suddenly stopped in his slow walk, lacking in any and all motion towards her. "I merely need for you to tell him this message if you so refuse to allow me near him. Tell him..." he threw a wolf-like glare over his shoulder, a corrosive sting to the burning emerald. Ai's stare naturally fell narrow in sync to his, sternness burning the pink of her eyes violently.  
  
"Tell him to meet me here, in this park." his tone was monotonous and low. Both Ai and Hiei eyed him with tugging eyebrows of confusion. "It's urgent."  
  
"How urgent...?" her raspberry glare sharpening acutely in suspicion.   
  
"Imagine everyone you know and love being murdered for merely being of some level of intimacy with Yoko and Hiei."  
  
"Oh shit...!!" Hiei gaped. "That...that could only mean...!"   
  
"What is that supposed to mean?" Ai asked slowly, her narrow eyes tampered with a raised brow.  
  
"If you've heard of me, then I can only think you know who else is in the picture..." he countered slowly, his stinging emerald eyes narrowed with the intensity of the situation.  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Simply tell your father..." his eyes faceted with a layer of hatred and loathing for the briefest of flashes. "...that Grapko is back." and with that last, bitter remark to roll off his tongue, the fox-wolf again stalked away from the girl, the daughter of Kurama now stunned of words and feeling.  
  
Her knees buckled, and her candy eyes rolled lazily back into her head. Before her entirety collapsed against the ground, she fell limp to another form right in front of her. Hiei had managed to blur straight before her and stifle her fall, but his stinging eyes focused solely to the fox-wolf stalking calmly away.  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
Hiei's steps were beyond furious in supreme speed. The fainted Ai slung to his back, he raced frantically for an opening to the Spiritual Realm in this part of the city. Fear tainted Hiei's senses to smogged swirls of clarity and blurriness...Grapko, the horror that required no less than Yoko Kurama's fiercest to kill...was in truth alive.   
  
Ai had been stricken with stories of the beast, of her demonic grandfather...she had been terrified by his actions, by the words that seemed to be merely stories...but the stories were reality, history in her father's life...and the stories were arisen again, in the present...about to overshadow them all with a mist of incurable insanity...and slaughter.  
  
Hiei sped ferociously in his vain attempt to locate another link from the human world to the Spirit World. "DAMN!" he roared angrily. "Why can't that fool Koenma just let there be some obvious portals?!"  
  
  
  
Night...the only light being the glowing moon and the unnatural illumination of man to taint the city. He skid to a roughly-smooth stop on a random rooftop, his Jagon swelling in ki as he strained to locate the newest gateway in Southern Tokyo. A breeze ruffled through his disheveled hair of spiky blackness, that same wind combing through the unconscious Ai's bushy mane.   
  
The burning of his third eye nearly singed through his smooth silk bandana. "C'mon..." he grunted to himself in partial frustration, then pricked with a sense. "Yes! A portal!" he instantly jerked from his footing in a blurred run, heading straight for the signal.   
  
He stopped in his bolt right before a huge, brick wall, his senses swelled in the sensation of a Spiritual gateway. "Oh joy..." he growled to himself. "Now I've got to kick through this wall without sending a brick to Ai's head..."   
  
The unconscious girl was slumped lazily over his back, the Dragon's arm securely wrapped under her legs and pinning them to his side. Her cheek was snug to his head, brushing against his jagged mane, and her slender arms slung limply over his shoulders.  
  
"Here goes!" he roared, and bashed his heel to the stone. Sharp jags and splinters of red brick snapped loose via Hiei's violent kick, the Dragon crouching low as to prevent chips from stabbing the girl's temple.   
  
Instantly a broad ray of stunning light poured through, stinging to the Dragon's narrow eyes. Hiei bowed slightly in stance as he kicked off for a stabbing sprint, his speed barely forming jags in the air as he strained to race through the dimensional link.   
  
His feet skid to a rough halt on the smooth marble floor of Koenma's brilliant palace. Straightaway he kicked into a violent sprint yet again, rushing vigorously for Kurama. "KITSUNE!" he yelled deeply, a tone that rang poisonous in frantic sincerity. Ogres winced and pricked at the echoes of frustration, well aware that the situation must be on the cusp of grave or embarrassing for the Dragon to sound angry with Kurama.  
  
"Kitsune! Where the hell are you?!" he growled sternly into the bowels of Koenma's endless stream of luxurious palace. His sprints were hardly slowed by the teenager pinned to his back, the Dragon racing to beyond his calves's limits. He searched with frantic motives, sweat tearing loose from his temple as he sped ferociously in search for Kurama.   
  
"Hiei?" a familiar tone breathed into hearing, confusion smogging the voice slightly. Instantly the Flame Koorime stabbed his feet roughly against the ground, skidding to a fierce halt, and whipping his ruby glare over his shoulder. Yusuke jogged into view, his chocolate eyes immediately widening at the sight he was met with. "Oh my God! Ai!"   
  
The Detective approached the Dragon in a sprint, coiling his arms steadily beneath her limp form and dragging her from Hiei's hold. He secured his hands steady under the bends of her knees and to her shoulder-blades, eyeing the stressed girl in his grasp. "Dammit Hiei!! You were supposed to keep an eye on them!!"   
  
"I know, Detective..." the Dragon seethed in a dangerously low tone.   
  
"Then what the hell happened?!"   
  
"She fainted."  
  
"WHY?!" the Detective growled in frustration.  
  
"Stifle yourself and reveal the whereabouts of Kitsune!" Hiei barked.  
  
"...Kuwa's looking for him..." Yusuke wrinkled his nose in reluctance. "Would you mind telling me what's going on?! And where's Kisho?! You were supposed to watch them BOTH!"  
  
"I KNOW THAT!" the Flame Koorime roared in frustration.  
  
"Then tell me what the freakin' hell is going ON!"   
  
"Imagine this, Detective..." the Dragon's dagger eyes sharpened acutely, the vivid redness corrosive and painful to absorb oneself in. "...Yukio, Gakilei, Keiko...slaughtered right before your very eyes!"  
  
The Detective pricked alert in confusion. "What are you talking about?!"  
  
"Your children, Ryuuhayai, my nephew, Kitsune's son and daughter...all our mates, and all of us...murdered!"   
  
"You're scaring me, Flames...tell me what happened!"  
  
Hiei growled viciously, the Detective instantly drawing back in shock. The Flame Koorime stared narrowly at his comrade for an instant of bitter silence, and breathed an acute tone "Watch over Kitsuna...I have to locate Kitsune immediately." and with that, he blurred against visibility, and sped violently away, leaving a baffled Detective with the unconscious Ai in his arms.   
  
Yusuke slowly bobbed his broad chocolate eyes for the limp girl. "Ai? Ai please wake up! ...c'mon, please?!" a deep groan rolled within his throat as she responded without a single motion. "This is the second unconscious woman I was abandoned with today! UGH! Kurama's gonna kill me just because of stupid Hiei..."  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
Five teenagers stalked the streets slowly, each sagged slightly in worry. They were heading for the theater, but each was hesitant without the presence of one of their best and closest friends.  
  
"It never takes Ai nearly this long to complete an assignment," Kane grunted softly.  
  
"Kane, she was lying," Gakilei half-smirked to the tall youth.   
  
"Apparently, something important was up..." Yukio deduced calmly. "Kisho...she hasn't contacted you at all?"  
  
"Nuh-uh..." the youngest of the team eyed the brunette with calm eyes. "She hasn't called or anything..."  
  
"Wasn't Kurama wicked worried?" Gakilei glanced to the bluette strangely.   
  
"Dad wasn't home..." the boy shrugged slowly. "...neither was mom."  
  
"Our father wasn't home either..." Yukio clicked his tongue to his teeth in thought, and threw his caramel stare upward for the tall Kane. "Was Kazuma?"  
  
"Nah," Kane's shoulder's sagged slightly. "And Mom was out visiting Genkai."   
  
"Weird...Ryuu, what about Hiei?" Gakilei tipped her chin slightly for the side, the short demonness walking briskly a bit of a ways beyond. "...Ryuu?"  
  
The demi-dragon lacked herself of words, focusing her acute glare straight ahead.  
  
"Hey Ryuu..." Kisho jogged slightly for the girl walking a bit ahead. "You okay?" he asked softly once he had reached her immediate space, tipping his chin in her direction and focusing calm eyes for her delicate, milky complection.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Are you positive...?"  
  
"YES..." the girl grunted acutely, Kisho backing off instantly.  
  
"...sorry, Hayai..." he muttered meekly, drawing his steps timidly from her personal space. A singe of redness sparked to the slope of her nose, her gaze awkwardly pinning against the ground. 'Hayai' had been his personal nickname for her since they were children...no one else knew of it...it was their private connection. Ryuuhayai grunted softly...and a faint smile brushed across her lips. She rolled a side-glance over her sharp shoulder, the acuteness of her ruby glare falling in clash with the roundness of the bluette's emerald eyes. He instantly sped up again, a smile about his face as his steps fell into sync with her own, the two walking calmly side by side, not really ignoring each other, yet not really paying attention to the other.   
  
Gakilei smirked deviously to herself, and jerked her chocolate leer towards her side. Yukio noticed the shot of a stare in his immediate direction, and he two smiled in knowing. Both knew...it was obvious that son of Kurama and daughter of Hiei both held an emotion beyond friendship for each other. The Urimeshi siblings each stifled their smug knowledge, calmly continuing onward in their slow trudge for the movie theater.  
  
Kane was aloof...he ignored the presence of his life-long companions. His onyx glare bobbed lazily upwards, locking to the engulfing mass of navy night sky. "Stars are so intriguing..." he breathed faintly, completely lost within himself. Gakilei blinked her broad gaze for the tall youth, his mint hair blowing loosely through a mild wind.  
  
"Kane?" she piped lightly. Yukio instantly felt in awkward disposition, and sped up slightly, just a few yards trailing after Ryuuhayai and Kisho, and walking in brisk, short steps ahead of his sister and Kuwabara friend.  
  
"...something is going to happen..." the boy's brow tensed, his eyes never tearing from their lock to the sky. "...I can feel it...something that supposedly was dealt with a long time ago...it's going to come back."  
  
"What're you talking about, Kane?" the black-haired punk eyed her friend in bewilderment.  
  
  
  
"...Ai isn't alright..." he breathed lowly. Instantly the clicking of Yukio's brisk steps stopped, the brunette frozen in the sincerity of Kane's words. Ryuuhayai and Kisho too paused in their walk, throwing ruby and emerald over their shoulders towards the mint-haired demi-demon.  
  
"...what do you mean...?!" Yukio stuttered in fear. "...where...where is she?!"  
  
"...she's not in this dimension..." Kane breathed roughly. "...she's in the Spirit World."  
  
"...why is she there?!" Kisho's brow narrowed over tensed eyes as he whirled around to face the calm youth. "What happened to my sister, Kane?!"  
  
'Ryuuhayai!' Hiei growled sternly to his daughter's head. Ryuuhayai broke to a torrent pain, the sensation of multidimensional conversation stinging against her mind in rough, jagged strokes. The girl clenched her head firmly, stifling grunts of pain. Instantly her companions clicked from the topic of Ai's whereabouts instantly to Ryuuhayai's obvious agony.  
  
"Hayai?!" Kisho braced his hands firmly to the pained girl's shoulders, Ryuuhayai throwing her head back and gripping firmly in the intensity of the pain. Her Jagon was still undertrained in comparison to Hiei's, and telepathic links cutting through various dimensions caused pulses of pain with every second.  
  
'What!' she barked back, frustration and pain tampering with the tone of her thoughts.  
  
'Listen to me,' the Dragon growled promptly. 'This is extremely important...remain with Kisho and go home to protect your mother!'  
  
'What?! Father what's-'  
  
'Do it! To explain further from my location here in Spirit World would only cause your young Jagon more pain...I'll clarify everything later...STAY WITH KISHO!'  
  
A tight wince played greedily to the girl's fragile face, her knees threatening to buckle beneath her. By now all her companions were by her immediate side, Kisho bracing firmly to her arms, the girl biting back stutters of pain. Ryuuhayai finally released the pain bottled in, and gasped a breath of agony, her tense expression flashing loose and her eyes sagging.  
  
"Ryuu! Are you okay?!" Kane eyed his cousin firmly, the burning onyx of his narrow eyes fixing stern to the tired demi-dragon.  
  
"I'm fine..." she scoffed half-bitterly, her Jagon swelling in pain and sending pulses of soreness throughout her entire head. She wavered dizzily as she pried herself forcefully from Kisho's hold, and stood stubbornly to her own terms.   
  
"What happened?!" Yukio stared to his friend with throbbed concern.  
  
Ryuuhayai slowly flashed her comrades a very Hiei type of glare, the group drawing back slightly. She only allowed her scarlet eyes to facet in such a way when a truly serious matter was at hand. "Kisho..." she locked her ruby glare dead straight to his emerald one, the boy responding slowly.   
  
"...yes, Ryuu?"  
  
"We have to go...now."  
  
"What? All of us?" the bluette blinked in slight confusion.  
  
"No. Merely you and myself."  
  
"What...?!" Kane eyed his short cousin with a look of bafflement.  
  
"What's going on, Ryuu?" Yukio stepped up calmly, his caramel eyes soft and friendly but narrowed in a concerned frame. "What was going on in your head just now?"  
  
"You got a message from Uncle Hiei, didn't you?" the mint-haired youth of the group piped in knowing, having managed to probe his cousin's mind without her immediate knowing. "In Spirit World?"  
  
"Is that why you were screaming? Cuz your Jagon can't take that type of distance?" Gakilei concluded half to herself and partially to the actual group.   
  
A spark singed in the ruby of her eyes, a slit of morbid secrecy. Ryuuhayai simply grunted Hiei's trademark "Hn," and clasped to Kisho's wrist, instantly sprinting off with the startled bluette dragging along in confusion.  
  
"W-ahh!!" was all Kisho had managed to breath into hearing before his form was torn from his immediate footing. The others merely stared after wordlessly, gaping at their friend's rash action.  
  
"Why is she ALWAYS so damn vague?!" Gakilei growled in firm irritation.   
  
"Because she's almost exactly like Uncle Hiei..." Kane wrinkled his nose slightly. "...we've only got Aunt Hinegeshi to blame, letting him play with her THAT often..."  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
*p3...everyone's on stage, Piper walking out to introduce the band...Hiei's in back with the drums, Mirai Trunks is on the right side of the stage with the turn-tables set, Anneliese is in front of Mirai Trunks with her bass guitar, Kurama's to the left with the keyboard, and Anemone's just in front of him and is just on the cusp of passing out...*  
  
Piper: hey! Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! Tonight, we've got a newbie set up for ya, but don't worry...cuz they're gonna rock the house!  
  
Cloud8.9: *tch* *mutters under breath* like the last band you had did? *gets elbowed by Sycogerl* jeez can't I have my own opinion?!  
  
Sycogerl64: flap it shut, baka...I wanna hear them!  
  
Cloud8.9: hmpf...  
  
Ellen: *back stage, crossed fingers, what Mr. Simmons did in the episode of Hey Arnold with Romeo and Juliet* please don't be bad...please don't be bad...  
  
Piper: so, without any more delay, p3 welcomes...Corrosive!! *applause...a/n: following song= "faint" by Linkin Park*   
  
Anemone: *breathing hard* I think I can...I think I can...I think-  
  
Hiei: *telepathically* Onna! You freakin' can, alright?! Now shut up and get ready!  
  
Anemone: *narrow glare*  
  
Mirai Trunks: *revs against turn-tables with a violin effect, slow up, faster up, quick down, quick down, quick down—starts in with another sound effect, repeats with violin sound, stops*  
  
Anneliese: *four-beat vibrate* *instantly breaks into Hiei at drums, Anneliese playing the smoothest beat, Anemone at lead, and Kurama at keyboard...Anemone mainly heard*  
  
Mirai Trunks: *repeats*  
  
Kurama: *only drums and violin heard distinctly, Anneliese making a smooth moan noise with the bass throughout the lines* I AM *lead rev*...a little bit of loneliness, a little bit of disregard...handful of complaints, but I can't help the fact that everyone can see these scars...  
  
  
  
*Mirai Trunks, Hiei, and Anneliese still continuing their parts as he goes*   
  
I AM *lead rev*...what I want you to want, what I want you to feel...but it's like no matter what I do I can't convince you to just believe this is real...  
  
*Mirai Trunks, Hiei, and Anneliese still continuing their parts as he goes*   
  
So I *lead rev* let go, watching you, turn your back like you always do, face *lead rev* away and pretend that I'm not, but I'll *lead rev* be here cuz you're all that I got*four-beat vibrate*  
  
Anemone: *intense lead, drums, no violin, mild bass, mild keyboarding to match the bass's sound* I, can't, feel! The way I did before!...don't turn your back on me;  
  
Hiei: -I won't be ignored-  
  
Anemone: Time, won't, heal! This damage anymore...don't turn your back on me;  
  
Anneliese and Hiei: -I won't be ignored! *drums calm slightly and continue smoothly, bass falls into distinct verse play, lead guitar dims, violin again*  
  
Kurama: I AM *lead rev* a little bit insecure, a little unconfident, cuz you don't understand, I do what I can, but sometimes I don't make sense...I AM *lead rev*...what you never wanna say, but I've never had a doubt, It's like no matter what I do, I can't convince you for once just to hear me out...so I *lead rev* let go, watching you, turn your back like you always do, face *lead rev* away and pretend that I'm not, but I'll *lead rev* be here cuz you're all that I got...  
  
*echo 'got' four times, violin stops, keyboard falls in sync with bass for refrain, lead guitar four-beat vibrate...blasts in intense lead, drums, turn-tables without violin, mild keyboarding and bass instantly as Anemone breaks to sing*  
  
Anemone: I, can't, feel! The way I did before!...don't turn your back on me;  
  
Anneliese: -I won't be ignored-  
  
Anemone: Time, won't, heal! This damage anymore!...don't turn your back on me;  
  
Hiei and Anneliese: -I won't be ignored! *longer '-ored', breaks into even harder lead, bass, drums and turn-tabling, keyboarding stops*  
  
Anemone: No! Hear, me, out, now! *millisecond pause, blasts again* You're gonna listen to me like it or not...right now!! Hear, me, out, now! *millisecond pause, blasts again* You're gonna listen to me like it or now...right now!!-  
  
Mirai Trunks: *no lead or bass guitar, no keyboard, nothing but violin effect, VERY mild drumming, and slight beat turn-tables; calmness* -I, can't, feel...the way I did before...don't turn your back on me...  
  
Anneliese and Hiei: *no violin, no drum, nothing but one type of beat on turn-tables* I WON'T BE IGNORED! *builds up the one turn-table effect, blasts with everything but violin*  
  
Anemone: I, can't, feel! The way I did before!...don't turn your back on me;  
  
Hiei and Anneliese: -I won't be ignored!-  
  
Anemone: Time, won't, heal! This damage anymore!...don't turn your back on me;  
  
Kurama and Mirai Trunks: -I won't be ignored!- *continues everything heavy, no violin*  
  
Anemone: I, can't, feel!!  
  
Hiei and Anneliese: don't turn your back on me-  
  
Kurama and Mirai Trunks: -I won't be ignored!  
  
Anemone: time, won't, heal!!  
  
Mirai Trunks: don't turn your back on me-  
  
Anemone and Kurama: I won't be ignored!! *everything fades abruptly, nothing but rubbing beat on the turn-tables as song closes*  
  
*rabid applause, all of p3 roaring in cheers...Hiei twiddles with his drumsticks, thrusts arms in air*  
  
Hiei: YEAH!  
  
Mirai Trunks: *cracks neck as he removes the headpiece* That was great!  
  
Anneliese: *laughter* I can't believe we did it!  
  
Kurama: Mones don't you feel better about going through with it?   
  
Anemone: *standing frozen, blank expression*  
  
Kurama: er...Mones...?  
  
Mirai Trunks: Mones...?  
  
Anemone: *blacks out*  
  
Mirai Trunks and Kurama: Mones!! *kicks off for her direction, props her up*  
  
Ellen: *bounces onto stage* YOU GUYS! That was AWESOME! It was SO much cooler than during rehearsal! *suddenly realizes everyone is crowded around Anemone* er...guys?  
  
Sycogerl64: *rushes to edge of stage, only Hiei and Anneliese turning their attention* Oh my God that was SO cool!  
  
Cloud8.9: I'm inclined to agree.  
  
Sycogerl64: hey is she okay...?  
  
Hiei: *growl* none of your concern...  
  
Anneliese: *elbows him, he eyes her half-narrowly and rolls his eyes* Yeah she'll be fine...  
  
Cloud8.9: so what's the deal with you guys?  
  
Hiei and Anneliese: ...?  
  
Sycogerl64: excuse me, I'll translate...Mr. Vague here simply meant...any couples in the group?  
  
Hiei and Anneliese: *prick, blush, grunt*  
  
Sycogerl64: ...! You two...?!  
  
Hiei: hn...*still blushing, turns back to Anemone* so what if we are...?! It's not your concern, human...  
  
Mirai Trunks: ...Mones?! Please wake up!!  
  
Anemone: *gurgling to consciousness* I...I did it...  
  
Mirai Trunks and Kurama: *relieved sighs*  
  
Mirai Trunks: yeah, honey, you did!  
  
Anemone: ...I...I really...really did it...!  
  
Kurama: indeed you did, Mones...we're very proud...you came through for us!  
  
Anemone: ...yay...! I, I did it...!  
  
Ellen: now you just gotta perform six more songs! *brief pause, Anemone blacks out again*  
  
Anneliese: Ellen!  
  
Piper: um...is everything here okay...?  
  
Everyone but Anemone: *instantly clicks to attention, trying to seem casual* yes, yup we're fine, uh-huh, yeah...  
  
Hiei: *turns to audience* care to review?  
  
Audience: YEAH!  
  
Hiei: then go...NOW! *scares the hell out of audience*  
  
Anneliese: Hiei!  
  
Hiei: what?  
  
Kurama: please review...au revoir! 


	4. Haunting

*backstage of p3...Anemone is conscious and is calming herself down as the others get ready for the next song*  
  
Ellen: wee! Just think, Mones...once all this stress and what-not is out of your system, you'll be SO excited!  
  
Anemone: *glare*  
  
Hiei: Onna...we're going to perform now.  
  
Anemone: ...?!  
  
Ellen: um...why are you, of all people, coming to get her...?  
  
Hiei: the others are preoccupied. They sent me to ensure all is well.  
  
Anemone: yeah, I guess...damn this band business is hard...  
  
Hiei: Onna, if you can remain conscious for one more song *Anemone glares* we're done for the night and are free to go.  
  
Anemone: salvation!  
  
Ellen: yay!! *drags Anemone from her seat and shoves her and Hiei off on to the stage* HURRY UP! I wanna freakin' celebrate our success!!  
  
Hiei: hn...*narrow glare, walks off towards drums*  
  
Kurama: alright, Mones...just one more song.  
  
Anemone: thank GOD...  
  
Kurama: see this wasn't so bad now, was it?  
  
Anemone: *glare*  
  
Kurama: erm...never mind...  
  
Anneliese: *into her microphone* you ready?!  
  
Audience: yeah!!  
  
Mirai Trunks: *into microphone, smirking* you sure...?  
  
Audience: Yeah!!! *pause*  
  
Mirai Trunks: *whispers to Hiei* Hiei! Your line!  
  
Hiei: hn? Oh...*into microphone* Speak more raucously!   
  
Audience: ...?  
  
Kurama: *into microphone* erm...he meant, louder...  
  
Audience: OH!! YEAH!!!!   
  
*Trunks is about to rev up his turn-tables, when some circuitry starts singeing behind him on the light system around the stage...he turns around confused, and, suddenly wide-eyed, covers his head as a huge blast of smoke and fire blasts in crackling sprays*  
  
Mirai Trunks: shit! *starts patting half-frantically at his sleeve, which caught fire*  
  
Hiei: what the hell...?!  
  
Anemone: Future! Are you okay?!  
  
Mirai Trunks: *tears off jacket, whips it to the floor*  
  
Ellen: *comes running out with a bucket of water, didn't see Trunks had removed his jacket, throws the water on him*  
  
Hiei: LOL...*collapses out of drummer's stool*  
  
Mirai Trunks: *soaked, standing seemingly perfectly calm, only his face looks slightly annoyed*  
  
Ellen: uh...oops?  
  
Kurama: *snicker* erm...*turns to readers*...it seems that we are having some...technical difficulties-  
  
Anemone: -FIRE! *whole stage going ablaze, everyone starts running like hell...except Hiei, who's still somewhat hysterical*  
  
Anneliese: Hiei you dumbass get off the stage!! It's on FIRE!  
  
Hiei: I'm a flame demon, Woman! Do you seriously think that this stage being on fire holds ANY significance to me in ANY manner?! *slowly walks off stage, meets the rest of Corrosive outside*  
  
Anemone: hum...*snicker* well, I guess I got out of that last song, muahaha...  
  
Mirai Trunks: *powers up slightly, his aura instantly drying him off* well, um...that's ONE benefit of the stage catching fire, Mones...  
  
Piper: oh my God! Are you all okay?!   
  
Everyone: *glares slightly*  
  
Piper: I'm SO sorry! *looks upward* LEO! *if you've never seen 'charmed', that's how she gets hold of her husband Leo, who's also a humanoid angel called a White-Lighter*  
  
Leo: *appears in a blue light* Piper? What's wrong?  
  
Piper: MY CLUB! You were supposed to fix the lighting last night!!  
  
Leo: I...I was...?  
  
Piper: YES! It exploded! Now all the customers are running away!  
  
Anneliese: *who has never met Leo before in her life* yeah, way to go, Leo...  
  
Leo: *brief pause* do I even know you...?   
  
Piper: p3 is on FIRE because of you! GO FIX IT!  
  
Leo: eep! Yes ma'am! *orbs away*  
  
Hiei: hn...our instruments couldn't have survived.  
  
Mirai Trunks: don't worry about that...I'm sure my Mom can buy us some new ones.  
  
Anemone: *who's still wearing her guitar over her shoulder, strokes it* I almost lost you...  
  
Everyone else: *sweatdrop*  
  
Kurama: riiight...okay...obviously we've a bit of time before our next performance...shall the readers get into the story?  
  
Everyone: *shrug* meh, okay, sure...  
  
Anemone: *sits Indian style on the ground, takes out her laptop, and starts typing like hell...as she types* Fox? Your line?  
  
Kurama: *smirk* as if I need any introduction...  
  
Hiei: *cough* conceited...  
  
Kurama: *glare* *smiles and turns to readers* chapter 5, enjoy.  
  
Chapter 5: Haunting  
  
Hiei's form blurred from the smeared air to humanoid speed, his narrow eyes scanning acutely for his Kitsune partner. "Kitsune?"  
  
His ears then pricked in hearing, a conversation between a male and female growing steadily closer. He slowly threw his ruby glare over his sharp shoulder, and was met with the sight of Kurama escorting his irritating mate towards one of the links to the human world. Both soon realized of Hiei's presence, and both smiled.  
  
"Hiei!" Botan giggled, racing to his side and drawing the Dragon in a firm hug. She hadn't been in his company for six years, and she couldn't help but embrace him lightheartedly. Although she never expected him to return the gesture, she also never expected to find him so cold. He didn't move in the slightest, lacking himself of reactions and motions, and merely eyeing Kurama narrowly as the bluette held to him. "Huh? Hiei?"  
  
Botan slowly drew away, the Dragon remaining inactive, but rather eyeing both his partner and the ferry girl with deep, singeing eyes.  
  
"Hiei what's wrong?" Kurama's brilliant emerald glare thinned as he eyed the flame Koorime strangely. "...where are my children...?"  
  
"Ai is in Spirit World, currently with the Detective."  
  
"And my son?" Kurama asked slowly as suspicion threatened to creep into his tone.  
  
"With Ryuu and Hinegeshi, in the human world," Hiei attempted his signature tastelessness in his speech, but his character was abandoned as Botan noticed a strange change in his eyes...they were daggered and poisonous as the norm, true...but...something in them, the way they sagged...  
  
"What's troubling you, Hiei?" the bluette piped, slowly stepping to her husband's immediate side.  
  
"Hn..." the Koorime grunted firmly, unable to formulate the words that shot electric through his frazzled mind to his lips.   
  
"...Hiei?" Kurama inquired lowly, a stern expression tightening his sharp features.  
  
"Kitsune...something very grave is happening." Hiei finally managed to force through immense strain.  
  
"What is it?!" Botan blinked back.  
  
"Don't rush me! This is a highly disturbing factor that needs to be laid down with thought!" the Dragon growled, baring a knit of teeth in her direction.   
  
Botan's expression merely tightened in annoyance. "Don't yell at me, Hiei! I simply want to know what the bloody hell is going on!"  
  
"Botan, calm..." Kurama ordered softly, gently taking her ivory hand in his own. "Hiei, please...what is this supposed disturbing factor?"  
  
"Father!!" a break in the consistency of this conversation's voices tore sternly into the opening of the palace room. Kurama instinctively flashed wide emerald eyes for his daughter, the girl barely managing to stumble into the room. Yusuke followed close behind her, prepared to catch her come a potential fall...she had only ripped to consciousness and galloped after Kurama's ki signal, giving herself no mercy on her stressed body.  
  
"Ai!" Kurama and Botan jogged instantly for their young daughter, the teenager on the cusp of collapsing again...her sprint had carried her from the very opposite end of Koenma's palace to the abandoned ferry-girl drop-off station, where her parents were leisurely hanging around in.   
  
Kurama bound his arms to Ai's, holding the dizzy Kitsuna from wavering to the floor. She cast heavy, overwhelmed candy eyes to her father, desperation and fear thieving them of their natural lies of innocence. They quivered and drooped, total dread and emotion robbing Ai of her very youth in her frazzled sense of fear.   
  
"Ai! Ai darling, what's wrong?!" Kurama locked concerned emerald eyes to his daughter's weighed raspberry ones, the girl panting heavily.  
  
"Yusuke! What happened to her?!" Botan barked, slowly turning to her sweet little girl and stroking the teenager's sweaty, tense brow.  
  
"Whatever happened it was Hiei's fault!" Yusuke roared, waving his arms in the air and wafting himself of any and all responsibility. "He just left me with her unconscious, she woke up, and ran here...don't blame me!"   
  
"Ai!" Kurama tightened his bind to his daughter in sheer concern, bending to one knee and slowly dragging the girl to a kneel in sync with him. "Please, darling, what happened?!"  
  
"Father...Father...I, I met...I met Ryooki!!" the girl panted heavily, her eyes wide with burning fear. Kurama drew back slightly, eyeing her with broad orbs of emerald shock.   
  
"You...you met...who?!"  
  
"Ryooki!" she practically cried from the strain of breathing...passing out had knocked the wind out of her, and running instantly had virtually caused inner plight, and a plague to her lungs.  
  
"...Ryooki..." Botan pondered the name slowly to herself. *a/n remember she never really got a real introduction to Ryooki in the first one, she only heard his name like 2 or 3 times* "That sounds vaguely familiar..."  
  
Kurama was lost within himself, framed in a gaping expression. "Are...are you...are you certain?"  
  
"I was there, Kitsune..." Hiei half-growled from behind. "The whole time...and to answer your following question...no, he did not harm her...he merely yanked her tail in fox-like play."  
  
"Indeed that hurt..." the teenager winced to herself, drawing her eyes to the side... "AHH!" she yelped, her sagging glare instantly snapping wide as she bound tighter against her father.  
  
"Ai?!" Kurama blinked down at her in confusion, holding her protectively...when he realized...she had just seen his tail for the first time.  
  
"F...Father!! Where...w-where did you get, get that?!" she stuttered in mad torrents of bewilderment.  
  
"He spawned it this morning..." Yusuke grunted flatly. The silver mass of bushiness flicked and swayed smoothly, and was near identical to Ai's, let the overall color.   
  
"Honey it's okay..." he assured her calmly, a gentle smile playing to his somewhat worried expression. "It's like yours, ne? Just a tail, darling..."   
  
She slowly eased from her desperate bind to him, and locked raspberry against emerald yet again.  
  
"Father..." she breathed slowly. "...he, told me...he told me to tell you..."  
  
"Yes...?" Kurama eyed her warily, a tone of coaxing to his calm voice as he eased her frazzled senses smooth.   
  
"...he wishes to meet with you..."  
  
"He does," Kurama breathed in more of a statement than in question. "Do you know why, Ai?"  
  
"...Because...because...!"  
  
"Ai...?!" the concerned father gripped firmly to her arms. "...please! What is it you need to tell me?!"  
  
"Father...!" her eyes brimmed in complete, defined pools of raspberry terror, Kurama blinking back in stunned bafflement. "...Grapko is back...!"  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
"Ryuu!" Kisho roared, tearing his wrist free of the demonness's grip...and in doing so, he ripped from the lock of god-like speed, and collapsed to his lower back, skidding roughly against the rooftop they were currently sprinting across. A yelp escaped his gaping expression as he frantically clawed to the shingles, his form sliding closer and closer for the edge of the thirty-foot tall house. He just barely managed to pinch his hold to a rift in the roofing, just an inch up the brim...there he dangled, only one arm keeping him from a rather nasty fall.  
  
Annoyed, monotonous red eyes cast lazily for his direction, Ryuuhayai glaring to him in irritation. "Now why did you go and do that, Kisho?"  
  
The bluette growled. "Help me up!"  
  
Ryuuhayai raised an eyebrow at the demanding youth, glaring to him with corrosive blood eyes. The bluette dangled awkwardly for a minute, deprived of a response. "...please?"  
  
The Flame Koorime grunted lowly, a smirk playing to her lips as she gnarled a milky grip to the boy's wrist, dragging him up. The boy smiled with an expression of relief and gratitude as she dropped him just to her side, Kisho instantly stabilizing his footing. "Ryuu?" he asked cautiously.  
  
"Hn?"  
  
"What's going on? Why did we leave the group?"   
  
Silence was all that met his question, annoyance steadily flashing more and more vividly to his narrowed eyes. "Hayai!"  
  
The dragonness pricked slightly, throwing a devilishly acute glare over her shoulder.  
  
"Tell me what's going on!"  
  
Pause as the words formed tangible to her tongue. "I don't know."  
  
"WHAT?! How can you not know why you dragged me away from Kane, Gakilei and Yukio?!"  
  
A vicious growl contorted Ryuuhayai's features briefly, the bluette backing down instantly, but still possessing his tense, stern expression.  
  
"I don't KNOW, Kisho...Father merely instructed me to remain with you and watch over my mother."  
  
"Huh?" his countenance loosened spontaneously. "What's wrong with Hinegeshi? And why do you need me?"  
  
"I don't know...he simply ordered I do so...happy?!" she half-barked in irritation. "I must get home to the dojo and protect Mother as Father demanded of me."  
  
"Well...if she needs protecting...running there would only tire you out, right?"  
  
Silence...Ryuuhayai refused to admit that sprinting at her fullest while dragging along a taller, heavier teenager along for a straight twenty miles would dim her energy slightly.  
  
"...maybe it would be better if we flew." he smiled calmly, easing to a stand and propping his arms outward in tight extends...a flow of energy zapped to his fingertips, and what resembled spider webbing slipped in smooth ripples from his palms. The threading instantly wove and thread together, tightening until the fibers lacked in any motion...the energy he had mustered materialized to his wood-handled scythe...a shot of ki, and a wave of light swiped through the air from the upward end of the weapon, a smear of steal...the scythe blade. With delicate hand motions the boy spun it gracefully through the air, matching his precision only to his father's, the brilliant tactician Kurama. It slit smoothly through the air, in twirling motions until he jerked it to a halt, in exact position to leap upon.  
  
"Your chariot, Miss?" he offered politely. Ryuuhayai eyed him monotonously, her expression tugged slightly with a raised eyebrow. Her corrosive ruby glare slowly rolled as she kicked her leg over the side, Kisho leaping on behind her. He strung his strong arms about her slender waist and in front of her, gripping firmly to the wooden handle. "Okay...to the dojo."  
  
He bowed his standing slightly, his feet having still pressed to the roof, and kicked off with a violent thrust, his warm breathing against his companion's half-exposed neck. Smooth torrents of wind brushed through Ryuuhayai's bushy hair, the scent of cool charcoal wafting to Kisho's nostrils. His sensitive nose instantly caught the airy aroma, and he couldn't help but bask in it a little...a smile curved his lips slightly as he drew in a slow, tight breath, inhaling the dragonness's essence.  
  
Of course Ryuuhayai sensed he was whiffing her delicate scent...she had to hold back with every fiber of her being from striking him off the scythe...because, alas...they were currently seven miles upward from the ground...and if he were to collapse off, the weapon would disintegrate...and she couldn't make that height without losing some important limb.  
  
And, as much as it plagued her morbid mind to even consider...she kind of liked that particular type of attention. The slope of her little nose singed in redness, her eyes narrowed stubbornly as she jerked her vision for the far side. "Hn..."  
  
Kisho responded with a soft smile...and lay his chin to the girl's shoulder. Instantly the dragonness pricked in awkwardness, her corrosive eyes somewhat widened...but, she again grunted and shifted in a weary sigh, focusing her acute glare to her immediate right and trying in obvious vain to ignore the bluette, while at the same time nestling against him. An eerily calming wind swayed over them as they glided in a swift soar above Eastern Tokyo.  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
"Hello?" Kuwabara wandered aimlessly throughout the grand palace of Koenma, his search of his companions bearing no fruit for his efforts. "Urimeshi! Kurama! Shorty!! Where are you?!"  
  
Suddenly, a pricking sense played to his face. He whirled around, just in time...to see nothing. A sensation much like the 'tickle feeling' to ever plague him washed over him in broad waves, the red-head wincing away apparent awkwardness. "Weird..." he breathed slowly.   
  
Just then, his attention was drawn to yet another shadowed corner of the abandoned corridor. He jerked viciously for the direction, but saw no more than before. Again and again, faster and faster, he whirled in all directions. "I'm surrounded...!" he grunted in frustration as his onyx eyes tore from side to side. The sensation of demonic ki was overwhelming...he could sense it...he could feel it...four different apparitions, cornering in on him.  
  
"Hmm...what a half-decent human..." one scoffed haughtily, in the veil of shadows obviously smirking.  
  
"Tch!" Kuwabara spat to the side. "...you don't know me that well..." without a single motion, a ray of blinding energy shot from his sprawled palm, the red-head twirling it vigorously for a split-second.  
  
"Aha!" another demon, this time a female one, giggled smugly. "He'll be more fun than the norm of our victims."  
  
  
  
"Shut up, you dumbasses! There ain't no way I'm gonna be one of your victims!" Kuwabara crouched slightly in stance, darting his eyes back and forth as he felt out their energy signals. 'Damn! There's only four of them, but they spread their auras out so thickly I can't find the exact origin..."  
  
"You're fighting blind," yet another tone rang, this one low and deep, smooth and masculine.  
  
"Indeed..." the fourth, another woman, smirked calmly. "You cannot defeat Hell's Shadows."  
  
"What the hell kind of name is that?!" Kuwabara wrinkled his nose as he continued to keep a sharp onyx glare set for his foes.  
  
"Shadows spread smooth over any surface..." one began.  
  
"...as do our energies..." another continued.  
  
"...we blend as any shadow would..." a third smirked.  
  
"...and what you can't see, will hurt you." the last of the four ended smugly...and four shots of black lightening tore through the air and straight at the surrounded Kuwabara.  
  
Screams of intense pain escaped his gaping mouth as thousands of bolts of electricity zapped jaggedly through his entire system. Pain numbed his vibrating senses as they jerked violently from instances of agony to split-second pauses. The red-head shrieked as his very bones were tampered with and rushed through with immense shots of heat and crackling electricity.   
  
"Hahaha!" one of the females giggled lightheartedly. "I overestimated him...he's no fun at all..."  
  
"Well, I won't be in a second..." Kuwabara winced with a chaffing throat and gasping breaths. The four foes pricked, but merely surged all the more lightening into his tendered system. His expression gnarled tight as he held in another scriech of pain, and he growled hard, his onyx glare flashing narrow and dangerous.  
  
A scream...his scream...but not of his foes' attack...merely his own aura, tearing through to the surface.  
  
Four demons cast their eyes away, shielding themselves from the brilliant light of the red-head's aura...golden, as his signature sword. A blade of light licked into existence at his sprawled palms, double Katana's of Spiritual Power. "Not so tough NOW, are ya?!?!" he smirked, his voice loud to override the rumbling of his magnificent aura. An arrogant laugh jerked his chest up and down, as four demons strained to veil themselves again to the shadows.  
  
"Take this, insolent human!" one of the females snarled, shooting a ray of darkness in his immediate direction. Kuwabara instantly dove for the side, but the demons' suddenly all shot to him zaps of dark lightening in spontaneous directions. The experienced human jerked in random positions, just barely dodging each ray and allowing escape his awkward expression grunts of yelps come each near faze.  
  
"Damn humans, too flexible..." one of the males growled in frustration. That very demon kicked off against the floor, racing in attack to the human.   
  
Kuwabara's acute eyes narrowed. 'Stupid demon!' he thought smugly...and whirled around instantly, striking his blazing energy Katana against the foe's neck. Skin cracked, blood sprayed...the enemy collapsed dead to the former punk's feet, Kuwabara smirking darkly at the corpse.  
  
"See...this is what you get for ganging up on a human in Spirit World..." he shrugged egotistically. "...the only humans ever allowed up here are total ass-kickers!"  
  
At that mere remark one of the females lunged at him from behind, binding her arms firmly to his neck and digging her claws deep to his tense chest. The red-head was taken aback, struggling to breath and snarling in a wince at the pierce of flesh to his chest.   
  
"How DARE you, you FILTHY human!!" she spat angrily, surging her electrical attack through his system. A roar of pain rang from his stunned expression, but he soon jerked to reality and glared narrowly over his caught shoulder. He grit and winced through the torrents of pain pounding through him, and materialized yet another energy blade, his double Katana's having been dissolved after the shock of being attacked by this one girl.  
  
"Oh DAMN...she's a girl!!" he yelled in frustration. "I can't kill a GIRL!!"  
  
Naturally she had heard him, and her angered expression melted to a deep, thorough smirk. "Oh, can't slaughter women, eh?" her sly coo of a voice sang tauntingly in his ear. The red-head growled deeply, but jerked in pain as she poured yet another wave of electric ki.  
  
"Your reluctance for the kill will be your demise, human!" the remaining male scoffed bitterly, his tone weighed after losing his Shadow Companion to this red-head's hands. Kuwabara struggled fiercely against the female pinned about his neck. The two remaining enemies both clasped hard to his wrists, and, piercing to the veins with their dagger claws, stung demonic ki throughout his slowly weakening system.   
  
Blood escaped in rolling gushes from his fresh wounds, Kuwabara roaring in stabbed pain. Lightening crackled violently throughout him, pain overwhelming his senses. His wrists slit, his chest torn, and his senses numbed under influence of electricity...he was dying.  
  
"AHHHHH!!" the red-head screamed in sheer agony, the three demons smirking deviously.   
  
"Stupidity for straying from your Allies..." one scoffed.  
  
"...stupidity for falling into our trap..." another sneered.  
  
"...and stupidity for not killing your greatest enemy when you had the chance not thirty years ago...for he will slaughter your mate and son!" the last smirked.  
  
Kuwabara's onyx glare widened in fear and shock, forgetting the pain that ensnared him so viciously tight. He growled a rolling snarl of anger, sheer, cold, jagged anger, in the deepest depths of his throat, and pulsed in a violent jerk. A steady roar escaped his stern expression as yet again his aura stung bright, his foes being torn from their rifts into his pierced flesh and being thrown violently into the far walls, where darkness still managed to persevere against the blinding light of his jagged aura.  
  
"How DARE you threaten my beloved soul-mate Yukina and my son Kane! You will not live to see me defeat the one who holds this threat against my family, you ASSHOLES!"   
  
And with a stunning, surging array of golden ki, energy rushing out all the more thickly through his open wounds. The Spiritual rays cracked to each demon's hearts, breaking the skin on impact and severing the organs in the immediate way...blood spilled in thick waves, washing over each demon's ebony garments. Red tints locked to the fibers of the deep black, and holes through each's chest left the three Hell Shadows dead with gaping expressions and frozen eyes.   
  
Kuwabara allowed his ki signal to dim, his aura virtually easing to normality. The red head collapsed to his knees in firm exhaust, his breaths sharp and chaffing through the stab into his chest. In age, his heart had been troubled with illness and weakness, the former punk having strained it to even beyond his unmeasurable limits. The beats of his heart were pained and stung immense torment to his awareness. Suddenly, he froze, and was lost of the sensation of a beating heart...Kuwabara collapsed, his onyx eyes rolled back into his sagging lids and cold sweat beading to his brow...that last moved hadn't been pulled off since he was twenty-two...Kuwabara subconsciously gave in to a heart attack.  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
*a/n: OMG! Why am I so cruel?! POOR KUWABARA! But, on a lighter note...Kisho is SO damn smooth lol...just like good old dad, eh wolfie? Pulling a classic Kurama right there, that he is...Anyway...OOH! Guess what! It's Ellen's fourteenth b-day! WEE! Anywho...please review, please state your favorite parts, and please do so quickly...latr! 


	5. Memories

*a/n: people!! After this oh-so wonderful chapter and seeing as you will have absolutely NOTHING to do, go check out "Hiei, Putt-Putt, and Everyone Else" by flameology...it's a good story, very funny...and don't forget to review it! The author's LOVE reviews!...lol okay now back to my story lol...*   
  
*Anemone's room...the whole band business is taking a break for a few weeks, and it's just Anemone, Kurama and Hiei...Kurama's reading 'Lord of the Rings the Two Towers', Hiei's eating Anemone out of house and home, and Anemone's sitting at the computer trying to think of what to write*  
  
Anemone: dammit Hiei! That's my last bag of Lindt Dark Chocolate Truffles!! *whimper*  
  
Hiei: *swallow* you're gonna have Kuwabaka die, right?   
  
Anemone: *rolls eyes* for the third time!!...  
  
Hiei: but...but!!   
  
Kurama: *heavy sigh* come now, Hiei...that would be cruel and immoral.  
  
Hiei: whatwhat? *pause*  
  
Kurama: *pause, rolls eyes* never mind...just stop bugging Mones...  
  
Hiei: *growl* but she MUST kill off that waste of humanoid flesh!  
  
Anemone: ...why...?  
  
Hiei: cuzIhatehim!! *long pause*  
  
Kurama: erm...but, Hiei...if Kuwabara was to die, would that not cause depression for sweet Yukina? *smirk*   
  
Hiei: *reeeeally long pause, glare* shut up...  
  
Anemone: lol...how about this, Flames-  
  
Hiei: -*really excited* yeah?!  
  
Anemone: ...I'll consider it.  
  
Kurama: WHAT?!  
  
Hiei: YES!! MUAHAHA!!  
  
Kurama: Mones you CAN'T!  
  
Hiei: yes she can...she's the author, she can do as she likes!  
  
Anemone: *turns to readers* I won't say if Kuwabara will pull through or not-  
  
Hiei: -bwahahaha!!- *Kurama sweatdrop*  
  
Anemone: -but I WILL say that it requires your attention to find out...go into the reading and you'll see what I shall do.  
  
Hiei: *evil laughter, finishes off her last bag of Lindt Dark Chocolate Truffles*  
  
Anemone: GAH?! NOO!! MY CANDY!! *growl, lunges at Hiei, who half-chokes during mid-swallow as she pins him to the ground in fury* THAT'S MY FAVORITE CANDY, YOU IDIOT!  
  
Kurama: *annoyed sigh, sweatdrop, turns to readers with an attempt at a smile* chapter 6, enjoy...  
  
Hiei: *choking*  
  
Chapter 6: Memories  
  
"Kuwabara?" Yusuke piped through the abandoned corridor's of Southern Koenma's palace. The hallways wound intricately with twists and turns of brilliant craftsmanship, but lacked in any and all lighting, these parts having been officially deserted by the Spiritual Lord and being completely shut down of any whatsoever business.  
  
"Why do you suppose the chance that even that moron would wander into the bowels of an abandoned sector?" Hiei grunted half-calmly, scanning his corrosive eyes in all directions as he and the Detective searched lazily for the lost red-head.  
  
"Dunno..." Yusuke shrugged slowly. "...but with Kurama looking in the eastern part, Botan and Ai in the north, and cuz we were already in the west when we found out bout Grapko, this was the only other place to bother looking..."  
  
"...hn...he truly would lose even the thinnest sliver of respect I've managed to muster up for him in all these years as my accursed brother-in-law if he actually DID wander into the old corridors of the palace..." Hiei growled lowly, walking in sync with the slow Detective and casting his dagger glare in various directions as he attempted to feel out Kuwabara's ki.   
  
Suddenly, a pricked sense stung against his temple as realization overtook him.   
  
"Hm?" Yusuke inquired faintly, taking note of Hiei's shifted character. "What is it?"  
  
"Four corpses...half a mile ahead following this passageway..." Hiei calculated slowly, bafflement tainting his eyes.  
  
"But...corpses?! As in...dead, bodies?!" Yusuke eyed the Dragon strangely. "...you can only sense corpses if they're..."  
  
"...demonic." Hiei finished flatly, casting an odd glance to his partner.  
  
"Kuwa ain't demonic..." Yusuke locked narrowed chocolate against narrower ruby. "...and there are four..."  
  
"...which could only mean..."   
  
A pause. The two stared sternly for the other...before bolting straight off, sprinting for the immediate direction.   
  
"Dammit, Kuwabara! Getting himself in a fight down here all alone!!" Yusuke growled. "I cannot BELIEVE he'd come down here!"  
  
"There you go...eighteen years of me just barely gaining slight respect for him being my sister's mate, and he goes and blow it...hn..." Hiei grunted, sprinting in humanoid speed.  
  
"...and you're not gaining speed because...?" Yusuke inquired slowly in confusion, baffled at why the Dragon had yet to blur in a run.  
  
"Simply because, human...if the Baka got himself into a fight in the abandoned sector...I can't very well leave you alone now, can I?" Hiei smirked faintly, his dagger eyes violent slits.   
  
"Hmpf..." Yusuke countered in irritation. Suddenly, the Dragon's deep Jagon swelled in a deep wave of a sense, Hiei gaping in shock and blurring in his speed.  
  
"Hiei?!" Yusuke called after his companion in a start, and, growling in frustration, sped after him.  
  
'I can feel his ki slipping...' Hiei thought coarsely, racing for the signal he had managed to grasp. '...the idiot's dying!'  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
Pain struck instantaneously to the fallen Kuwabara's tender chest. He gripped hard to the blunt agony pulsing through his veins as his heart dimmed of motion, his knuckles gripping white in tightness.  
  
Sweat rolled smooth over the contours of his face, his breaths low and chaffing. His mouth gaped as stifling agony spread throughout his entire circulatory system. His blood flow was gradually ceasing of any and all movement, his heart slowing to an excruciating stop.  
  
"...no...!" he whispered brashly to himself, his forced tone deep and vibrating violently in the core of his drying throat. "...I...I can't...can't die...I can't...I......can't......"  
  
His chest shifted slowly. Up, second, second, second...down, second, second, second...his breaths were forced timed, his heart slowly losing his overall value...as was his entirety.   
  
There the former punk lay, engulfed in his overall pain. Suddenly, visions struck over his subconscious...thousands upon thousands of memories long-past and nearly forgotten...  
  
The day he first rumbled against Yusuke Urimeshi...his trials during his rival's supposed death...meeting Botan, and shallowly falling head-over-heals...Genkai's tournament...Maze Castle, and dealing with Hiei and Kurama for the first time...Yukina...  
  
A pause as his first memory of her spread smooth over his mind's eye. "Yukina..." he breathed coarsely. Her delicate little face, her soft little smile, her wide blood eyes...her icy-scented mint hair, bushy and spiked...she was so beautiful...daily waking up beside her he had yet to realize she really was his...after so long...after marriage and a son...he still couldn't believe his unnatural luck.  
  
Instantly his thoughts clicked to that of his son...Kane...at birth the narrowest onyx eyes any demi-demon could possibly hold...infancy of breeding the immediate temperature to zero kelvin...toddler years training as a martial artist and mirroring his father's techniques...a childhood of icy attacks and games, nearly numbing Kazuma's muscles beyond use by accidental play...a lifetime of happiness...his family...his wife and son.  
  
Memories of outer matters flooded his subconscious...Kurama...the tactician worthy of immediate and everlasting respect for his brilliance and experienced maneuvers...Yusuke...the rival never quite beaten, but always a close friend worth time and effort to keep in line...Botan...the bubbly ferry girl always slivering a smile to one's face merely with her presence...Ryuuhayai...his smug niece, the mental carbon copy of her intolerable father, but far more loveable...Hiei...the annoying midget who always kept a honed tongue to spit playfully taunting remarks in anyone's immediate direction...oh God how Kuwabara loved them all so much!  
  
Pain, such pain indescribable tainting his chest...the blood flow was slowing, clogging in his flattening veins...sweat broke loose in gel-like beads with each jerk of his head, redness singeing to his ears and nose as he struggled with himself...consciousness was hardly tangible, lessening itself from the former punk's reach with every plagued breath.  
  
His blurring onyx glare was glossing over of clarity, his other senses dimming numb in sync with his dying vision. His gasps jerked his chest up and down, shifting him mercilessly. Chaffing dryness clogged his esophagus at every strained attempt to breath.   
  
"This...this can't be...this can't be the end...not yet...not...yet..."  
  
His onyx eyes simply pressed shut, and he fell into darkness...he no longer felt pain, he no longer struggled to breath...his heart had given out...it was merely a matter of time before the blood flow stopped completely, seconds tops...  
  
"Baka!" Hiei roared, skidding to a rough stop by his brother-in-law. He instantly clasped a firm hold to the red-head's shoulders, and propped him up. "Wake up!"  
  
Kuwabara's head rolled lazily on his neck with every jerk Hiei shifted him in, the former punk still on the cusp of death. "Wake up, right now!!"   
  
"Hiei...?!" a confused voice rang in deep echos throughout the deserted hallways.  
  
"Detective!! Get in here!" the Dragon growled, shaking his brother-in-law firmly.  
  
"What the-?! HOLY SHIT!!!" Yusuke jumped instantly the second his form broke into the scene and his chocolate leer locked to the sight of the bubbly demonic corpses lining the walls.   
  
"That's not what's important!" Hiei roared in annoyance.   
  
"Kuwabara!!" the Detective sprinted for his best friend's side, threading a sturdy arm under the red-head's back. "Holy shit what the hell happened to him?!"  
  
"He's undergoing a heart attack..." Hiei grunted in a low, serious tone racked in monotonous flavor.  
  
"WHAT?!"  
  
"Detective! Keep your terrified fury at a minimum and look over the idiot...I must go and retrieve either of the Kitsunes..." Hiei kicked himself to a firm stand, blurring instantaneously from the scene.   
  
*a/n: either of the Kitsunes means, obviously, either Ai or Kurama, whichever one is closer...Ai is practically a doctor like Kurama, for future reference in this story lol*  
  
"-but wait!-" Yusuke managed to call after the Dragon before being abandoned with his best friend in a dark, blood-hazed corridor in the abandoned sector of Koenma's maze-like castle.  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
Emerald scanned nimbly over the contours of the palace corridors, interested eyes engulfing themselves firmly in attention. Kurama stalked calmly through the sleepy Eastern Sector of Koenma's palace, the corridors dark and set for the night, the work force having retreated for home by this time...it was much unlike the Southern Sector, which held no significance to Koenma by this point in time and hadn't for centuries...yet this Eastern Sector was still eerie come the fall of night.   
  
"Hm?" the fox slowly threw his naturally narrow glare over his sharp shoulder, and met a panting, grave-looking Hiei. "...Hiei?"  
  
"Kitsune! We found the idiot...!" the Dragon rasped steadily, his sprint having just covered a good ninety-seven miles of twisted, intricate corridors.  
  
"You found Kuwabara?" the red-head slowly whirled around to completely face his partner, but found a twinge of fear to plague Hiei's corrosive ruby glare. "...Hiei...?"  
  
"We need a doctor!" Hiei breathed coarsely, Kurama pricking in a start.  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
Hiei: YOU DIDN'T KILL HIM?! UGH!! *in a rage, completely slices through her teddy bear with his drawn Katana*  
  
Anemone: AHH!! Mr. Paddle-footies!! NOO!!!! *starts crying*  
  
Kurama: there, there Mones! It'll be alright! *throws a REALLY intimidating glare at Hiei* Now look what you did, Hiei!  
  
Hiei: hn! Serves her right...she didn't kill what I hated, so I in turn killed what she loved...  
  
Anemone: *still crying*  
  
Hiei: my GOD you wimp it was a poorly constructed assembly of fur swatches and polyester stuffing...!  
  
Kurama: it obviously held some significance to Mones *hands her some tissues, rubs her back*  
  
Hiei: jeez what is with you Mr. Sensitive?! She denied me a valued treasure! Why can I not do the very same to her?!  
  
Anemone: *blows nose* because you dumbass it doesn't freakin' work that way!! I do mean stuff to you and you're supposed to freakin' think it's CUTE!!!  
  
Hiei: *REALLY long pause* ...hn.  
  
Anemone: UGH! *lunges at him, wrestles with him on the floor*  
  
Kurama: *sweatdrop, smiles awkwardly at the readers* erm...they do this a lot-  
  
Anemone: *pinning his face to the ground* SAY UNCLE, MIDGET!  
  
Hiei: *muffled* NEGPHER!!! * 'never' *  
  
Kurama: *sweatdrop* erm...right, please-  
  
Anemone: -DON'T SAY IT! *casts a REALLY evil glare at Hiei* make HIM say it!  
  
Hiei: *face still pinned to the floor* SPHUT UPF!! * 'shut up' *  
  
Kurama: Mones...? Mones you're scaring the readers away...  
  
Hiei: *face still pinned to the floor* THPEY SPVOULDTH VE PH*CKINGV TERRIPHIEDF!!! * 'they should be f*cking terrified' *  
  
Anemone: aren't they always?! SAY THE LINE!  
  
Hiei: *face STILL pinned...* NO!  
  
Anemone: DO IT!!  
  
Kurama: Mones it was a teddy bear! Please calm down!   
  
Hiei: *finally manages to rip his face from the floor, jerks to readers* Go review or this madwoman will hunt you down and slaughter you all!!  
  
Kurama: *slaps face*  
  
Anemone: *smiles sweetly and waves at the readers, pinning Hiei's face to the floor again* Latr!  
  
Hiei: *groan* notf phorf mev.... * 'not for me' * 


	6. Encounter

*a/n: I don't hate Kuwabara. I actually really like him...I feel bad for him when people diss him in their fanfics...if you don't count Kurama, Hiei, and Yusuke, he's the best character there is...don't get me wrong...Botan's fun too, but still I kinda like him better...I don't want anyone to think I was giving him a heart attack because I dislike him.*  
  
*Anemone's room...Anemone's gaping at her empty, EMPTY e-mail, Hiei's hanging on her hammock in the upper corner of her far wall with a package of strawberry ice cream in his lap, and Kurama's playing the keyboard*  
  
Anemone: how come no one is reviewing?!  
  
Hiei: hn...you got spoiled in your first fiction...with the constant reviews...*takes a bite out of his ice cream*  
  
Anemone: WAAA!! NO ONE LOVES ME!! *starts crying like crazy*  
  
Kurama and Hiei: GAH! *covers ears*  
  
Kurama: Mones! Mones, please...! We love you...!  
  
Hiei: *growl* lying in such an obvious way won't shut her up, Kitsune!  
  
Anemone: WAAAAA!!!! EVEN HIEI HATES ME!!!  
  
Hiei: ...*under breath* jeez when did you figure THAT out...?   
  
Kurama: *really narrow glare at Hiei, eyes Anemone gently* Mones...come now, you've plenty of people who like your stories-  
  
Anemone: -then why don't they freakin' REVIEW?! That's the TRADITIONAL way of expressing they appreciate my efforts!!  
  
Hiei: my GOD onna you're acting as if you sweat and bleed into that damned keyboard...it takes you like a half hour to write a freakin' chapter! It doesn't require THAT much effort!  
  
Anemone: *glare, pricks in an evil idea, smirks* hmm...well Flames, if it doesn't require that much effort...why don't YOU write the next chapter...?  
  
Kurama: *sweatdrop* er...Mones? I doubt allowing him access to the keyboard would be entirely wise a decision-  
  
Hiei: -hn! Why would I partake in such a petty expression of human "art"?  
  
Anemone: ...you would if you COULD just to PROVE that you're right...but I guess you CAN'T...  
  
Kurama: *bigger sweatdrop* -Mones...-  
  
Hiei: -what is THAT supposed to mean?!  
  
Anemone: oh, just that you lack any ability to write...  
  
Kurama: *looks a little scared* -Mones!-  
  
Hiei: -WHAT?! *really narrow, evil glare* Onna, I could out-write you anytime, anyplace...I bet you anything I could...  
  
Kurama: *slaps face* oh no...  
  
Anemone: you're on, Flames! Go ahead, write the next chapter! *moves aside to let Hiei take over...long pause...he reluctantly eases out of the hammock and slowly sets himself to the chair, typing with mad speed...five seconds later-*  
  
Hiei: this is excessively simple, ningen...I'm nearly finished with the first page!   
  
Anemone: well then let's take a looksie...Fox?  
  
Kurama: but...this isn't even a real-  
  
Hiei: -you don't consider my work real?!  
  
Kurama: *sweatdrop, REALLY heavy sigh* "chapter 7", enjoy...I guess...  
  
Hiei's Chapter 7:  
  
Hiei and Kurama found Kuwabaka. Kuwabaka was dead. He had died while Hiei was gone. Hiei was glad. Hiei laughed. Kurama scolded Hiei. Hiei blasted him to oblivion, but then kinda regretted it. Yusuke got scared of Hiei. Hiei forgot about Kurama and Hiei blasted Yusuke to oblivion. Hiei laughed. Then a demon showed up. Hiei kicked that demon's ass. Hiei was awesome. Hiei was so much cooler than the other people in this screwed over story. Then Grapko showed up and looked all pissed. Hiei totally kicked his ass. Then Hinegeshi and Anneliese appeared and they both started taking turns in totally making out with him-  
  
Anemone: -okay this is friggen PAINFUL to read!! Jeez, Hiei! You like, didn't put ANY thought into this at ALL, did you?! It has no texture...it has no feel...it has no PLOT...!   
  
Hiei: WHAT?! This is brilliance, woman!! Sheer genius!!  
  
Kurama: YOU KILLED ME?! WHAT THE HELL!!   
  
Hiei: hn...it's a story, Kitsune...  
  
Anemone: note how he ALSO managed to kill Yusuke, a random demon, AND Grapko, as well without breaking a sweat AND mustering enough energy for a double make-out session...  
  
Kurama: *calms down, smirk* indeed...this is pure fantasy...  
  
Hiei: WHAT?! I could TOO take you jerks on!! I've superior strength that would leave you ALL as ashes!   
  
Kurama: *deeper smirk* riiight...just be glad I'm your Ally, Hiei...  
  
Hiei: I hate you...you all suck...  
  
Anemone: *snicker* Okay now on to the REAL chapter-  
  
Hiei: -what are you blabbering about now, woman? I wrote the whole chapter just now-  
  
Kurama: * "accidentally" presses delete...trying not to smirk* OOPS! Did I just completely, totally, and irreversibly destroy all of Hiei's precious story? Goodness me!  
  
Hiei: GAH!! NO! Where'd it go?! Where'd it GO?! *starts typing frantically* NO! *in his fury, accidentally blasts her computer...BOOM...the three yelp and duck, and slowly ease back to a stand...REALLY long pause, the three just staring blankly at the smoking debris of plastic, metal, and circuitry*  
  
Hiei: uh...  
  
Anemone: MY COMPUTER!!! HIEI YOU FREAKIN' DUMBASS!!  
  
Hiei: *blurs away*  
  
Anemone: *starts crying* THE FREAKIN' WORLD HATES ME!!!  
  
Kurama: *sweatdrop* erm...*pulls out laptop* here...write the new chapter on this...  
  
Anemone: *sniffle* okay...  
  
Kurama: *turns to readers* the REAL, chapter 7...enjoy.  
  
Chapter 7: Encounter  
  
Fox and Dragon sprinted whole-heartedly for the Southern Sector, racing with the intensity of the situation.  
  
"How slow was his blood flow?" Kurama asked sternly through paced breaths.  
  
"Slow."  
  
"Now is not the time to be vague, Hiei..." the fox half-growled with a narrowed expression.  
  
"I'm not a doctor, Kitsune...medical matters have always left me vague...unless of course the means is death, which I am the master over..." he finished with a lie of a smirk, when in reality he was a bit worried for Kuwabara.  
  
The duo rounded a narrow corner...and a crack of bone to bone snapped into the eerie silence of the Eastern Sector.  
  
Kurama was sprawled on the floor, lying lopsidedly on top of a confused Botan. Hiei snorted in frustration, Ai–after wincing to her parents' current state–side-glancing to the Dragon with a stern expression.  
  
"You found Kazuma?" she half-stated half-coldly as her parents struggled to ease to a stand.   
  
"Yes and we have to tend to him now...unless of course you'd rather cause my sister and nephew pain, Kitsune!" the Dragon roared, frustration stinging his corrosive eyes dangerously acidic.   
  
"I'm coming, Hiei!" Kurama half-growled as he assisted the startled bluette to her feet.  
  
"What's going on? What's wrong with Kuwabara?" the ferry girl piped in her bafflement.   
  
"LATER!" Hiei growled, tightening his fists white-knuckle tight into his partner's collar and jerking off in a blur, dragging Kurama along.  
  
Ai and Botan stared blankly after the Dragon and Fox, both narrowing their expressions in annoyance. Ai's tail stood on end, flicking in her irritation.   
  
"Mother, create an oar, please...it's the fastest means of following them..." Ai locked her raspberry glare to her mother's identical ones, Botan nodding primly in agreement.   
  
"Right! I want to find out what's happening...your father hardly tells me anything anymore...!" Botan muttered in irritation of her mate. The bluette steadied her slender ivory hands before her, and allowed a flow of energy to surge from her long fingertips and into her soft palms. Her energy escaped her body as webbing, weaving and locking in dense, tight fibers...until all left was merely compact wood in the form of her signature rower.   
  
The bluette swung it effortlessly through the air, leaping to a sit over it's side. She zoomed off, her speed spraying a mass of wind through Ai's waist-length ruby mane. The she-fox watched on, startled, having been abandoned by her mother...until the bluette screeched to a sudden halt, two-thirds of a mile down the lonely sector. She awkwardly threw an innocent, meek smile in Ai's direction, the red-head growling to herself in annoyance as she sprinted off towards her mother.  
  
"Sorry, sweety!!" Botan grinned in embarrassment as the she-fox approached with nimble steps and animal speed. "I'm SO sorry, honey!"  
  
"Just fly, Mother!" the red-head grunted as she skid to a halt from her bolt and leapt to a firm sit behind her ditsy mother.  
  
"Right!!" she giggled apologetically, blasting off in flight yet again with Ai clenching firmly to the wooden rower, darkness enveloping them as they sped deeper and deeper into the bowels of the Eastern Sector in pursuit of the Senior Urimeshi Team, each member currently in the Southern Halls.  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
Chocolate scanned angrily over the glossed-over street. Gakilei jerked her angry eyes upwards and let loose a shrill scream, which eased to a sickly groan as her tensed muscles fell limp. "UGH!! I cannot BELIEVE this!! Where the hell are they?!"  
  
Yukio's caramel glare rolled in frustration. "Gakilei calm down..."  
  
"NO! First Ai abandons us, then Ryuuhayai like, KIDNAPS Kisho! WHAT THE HELL!"  
  
Kane's nostrils flared in a tense sigh. "C'mon, Lei...I'm sure they all had a good reason-"  
  
"-I know DAMN well Ai left because of some demon, she's like the world's WORST liar...but what the hell?! She NEVER takes more than fifteen minutes to kick a demon's ass...and don't even get me STARTED on Ryuu...what the hell went through her head?!"  
  
"Uncle Hiei's voice," Kane smirked knowingly, the female Urimeshi blinking slightly.   
  
"Oh yeah..." Gakilei moaned in exhaust and annoyance. "They blew our whole night!"  
  
"Lei...something bigger than a stupid trip to the movies has come up!" Yukio growled sternly.   
  
"WHAT COULD BE MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE "BLOOD AND GORE" MARATHON?! SIX MOVIES OF PURE UNADULTERATED VIOLENCE!!!"  
  
Her two companions stared at her blankly, before Kane piped "You seriously should lay off the sugar, Gakilei..."  
  
She flashed him a very Yusuke glare, both boys backing off.   
  
"Just an opinion, Lei..." Kane blinked meekly. "Yeesh..."  
  
"UGH!" she roared, whirling in her footing to face her comrades, both stepping back slightly in fear of her rage.  
  
"SORRY!! SORRYSORRYSORRY!!" They both jerked into sprints away from the angered Urimeshi, who had lunged towards them in her frustration.  
  
"Gakilei!! HEEL!!" Yukio yelled over his shoulder...but wound up angering her all the more.   
  
"KANE!!" the punk roared for the mint-haired demi-demon. "WHAT DID HIEI TELL RYUU?! WHY DID SHE ABANDON US?!"  
  
"I DON'T KNOW!!" He countered in fear, racing in sync with her terrified brother...the girl about to start powering up for her Spirit Sniper...  
  
"I HONESTLY DON'T KNOW!"  
  
"HN!" Miss Urimeshi growled...before a foreign grip bound about her torso in bruising tenseness, jerking the Detective from her rage. The tense arms woven about her stomach drew her back sharply, dragging her from her footing.   
  
"-the hell?!" she roared as a stranger tore her from her sprint...and just out a blast of singeing ki. A flash of violet light stung to the ground she would have been standing to had this stranger not ripped her from her sprint. She blinked in shock as smoke loomed lazily from the purple attack's impact to the sidewalk.   
  
Kane and Yukio were each frozen solid in awe...her savior was a demon! He resembled Kurama...yet...his face was longer, sharper at the chin...his skin was paler, and his hair was smoother, not as rough and bushy...though just as long and just as red. A bushy fox tail brushed against the side of his thigh, and two white-tipped fox ears flicked against his scalp.   
  
"Who are you?!" Kane growled, sprinting to Gakilei's side and taking her protectively from the stranger's bind. He cast half-annoyed emerald eyes in the teenager's direction, but then pricked to attention.  
  
"Get down!" he roared, whirling in his footing and shoving Kane to the right, Gakilei dragged along by the mint-haired youth's grasp to her wrist. The two fell in sync to the concrete sidewalk...and a swell of violet light stung against their eyes.   
  
The stranger instantly clawed at the ki with his animal-like nails, shredding the energy in slits of purple light.  
  
"Run!" the stranger growled over his tense shoulder, flashing narrowed eyes of brilliant intensity to the three teenagers. Clicking instantly from their bafflement to reality, Yukio gnarled his tense grip into Kane's sleeve and hoisted the boy to his feet, Kane in turn dragging Gakilei to a stand...the three, in slight reluctance, sprinted off, unsure if they should abandon the demon.   
  
"Ryooki!!" another voice spat...the owner of the violet blasts. "How DARE you defy your very father! For that you shall pay!"  
  
"Whatever, Shadow..." Ryooki growled coarsely. "You are weak...how dare YOU attack me!"  
  
"A member of the Urimeshi team has already fallen to the strength of the Hell's Shadows! As will you, Mut!" the unseen villain snickered menacingly, throwing yet another array of violet ki.  
  
The hybrid fox-wolf instantly slapped it to the side...the fencing it bashed against splintering and crackling to an intense, inhuman flame of royal flavor.  
  
"That member was surrounded! You've no right to label yourselves as warriors...you scoundrels!!" Ryooki snarled viciously.  
  
"You're a traitor, bite your tongue!" the opposite raged. "Merely coming to the living world to warn your brother endangered him and his loved ones all the more!"  
  
"Last time I checked, death was the limit of endangerment...they were already at risk, might as well have at least tried to numb the chances a bit," the fox-wolf smirked.  
  
"SILENCE!" Grapko's lackey roared, thrusting seven blasts of violet brilliance straight for the mut.  
  
Onyx, caramel, and chocolate cast themselves for the scene from beyond a rift in the fencing a few yards away. Shock stained each teenagers eyes at the intensity of each blast's ki level.  
  
"He's gonna be killed!" Gakilei growled, attempting to sprint after him.  
  
"LEI!" her companions roared in unison, both latching to each of her slender shoulders and dragging her back.  
  
"LET GO!" she hissed dangerously, Kane and Yukio ignoring her rants and pulling her back into the shadows as the mut stranger supposedly named Ryooki was attacked with seven shots of purple ki.  
  
Shock swelled rabid within them, beyond the limit for each of the three to stand...the fox-wolf actually been plowed into with the enemy's ki. Three teenage expressions gaped in stunned disbelief at the fallen fox-wolf.  
  
"What the hell?!" Gakilei stared in pure astoundment.   
  
Kane slowly thread his arm protectively about her collarbone, drawing her steadily back into the mass of shadows he and Yukio pinned themselves within. Gakilei threw a venomously narrow glare to the mint-haired demi-demon...before she saw the aloof tint in his acute onyx eyes...they were steady to the sky, were the origin of each purple blast had formed and shot to the mut demon sprawled to the street and seeping of redness.  
  
Kane drew the girl into the shadows, swallowing a dry lump set to the core of his throat...Yukio cast slightly confused eyes for his tall companion, seeing a troubled fear locked to his widened onyx eyes.  
  
"Kane...?" she inquired slowly.  
  
"...Father..." the mint-haired youth breathed slowly. "...no!...Father...!"  
  
"Kane...?!" Yukio asked steadily, eyeing the youth with narrow sincerity. Kane held to Gakilei protectively, quivering under the corrosive intensity of the eyes of the Hell's Shadow. Telepathic taunts were stinging into Kane's head...the truth of Kazuma vs. four Hell's Shadows.   
  
"...he's scoffing me..." he whispered slowly. "...telepathically...he's...he's...!...Father!..."  
  
"Kane!" Gakilei roared in her confusion, whirling around and binding her arms steadily to the stunned youth's shoulders. "What is it?!"  
  
"...the Hell's Shadows..." he whispered, his voice choking in disbelief and utter torment. "...they...they...!...Father!...!"  
  
"What is it?! What's wrong with Kazuma?!" Yukio in turn latched to his friend's shoulder in sync with his frantic twin.   
  
"...he can't be...he...can't...be..." the boy pulsed in mad shivers despite himself, fear, anxiety, and overwhelming pain drowning him. His eyes were stung wide, heavy breaths jerking his entire torso in strained attempts to remain conscious.   
  
"What the hell?!" Gakilei roared. "KANE!"  
  
"His father is dead..." a menacing tone smirked deviously to the three teenagers, the twin Urimeshi's gazing in shock to the near-invisible figure looming above.  
  
A hiss escaped his sprawled lips as he dove for the attack...until a shot of emerald ki crackled against the air and snapped into the creature's neck, sending the now deceased corpse in a jerked motion away from the kids.   
  
Yukio and Gakilei breathed coarsely in shock...and jerked for the origin of the blast. There Ryooki stood, seven gashes to his limbs bubbling of blood...but the narrow sincerity of his glare proved the Hell's Shadow hardly an opponent. His opened palm bound to a fist, a slight smirk twinging to the end of his lips.  
  
"Your father isn't dead..." Ryooki breathed calmly, lacking in any motion towards the stunned demi-demon. Onyx blinked to clarity, the hopeless abyss Kane had been potentially sinking towards suddenly hardening waist-deep, the boy clicking to attention.  
  
"He...he isn't...?!"  
  
"Not yet..." Ryooki sighed a nostril-flaring sigh. "I must see Yoko...if I don't..." emerald locked to caramel, then shifted to chocolate, then scanned for onyx. "Not only will Kazuma be murdered...but all of your fathers."  
  
"...what are you talking about...?" Yukio eyed the fox-wolf suspiciously.  
  
"Let's just say some old grudges are still going strong..." the hybrid sighed slowly. "I advise you all return home and defend your mothers..."  
  
"Why?!" Gakilei countered harshly.  
  
"Because there is a near endless supply of Hell's Shadows..." the demon slowly tucked his slender hands to his pockets and strode away with a calm air. "...and they are after every living loved one of any member of Team Urimeshi."  
  
"What?! Why are they after us?! Who are they?!" Gakilei gaped.  
  
"They are mere lackeys...they themselves aren't the threat..."  
  
"But they nearly killed Kazuma!" Yukio countered sternly. "What is happening?! Why were you fighting them?!"  
  
"They are after my blood as they are yours, kid..." the fox-wolf continued on his leisurely way. "Merely coming here to warn my brother of the dangers stalking him...has ensured my name on their hit-list."  
  
"Your...brother...?" Gakilei blinked in confusion.  
  
"You're Yoko Kurama's brother...?" Yukio deduced slowly, in awkward reluctance. Ryooki tipped his chin for his shoulder, pausing in his footing for a moment. With a shadow of a smirk to brush his lips and a silent trudge onward, that ensured for the three teenagers that he was indeed an Ally.  
  
"Watch yourselves, kids...that particular demon was actually after the three of you, but I had intervened...naturally he dragged the fight in your direction, but you'd better be on your guard..." he smirked calmly. "I won't be there to rip you from harm's way again."   
  
And with that, he stalked away to the mist surrounding the overall street, leaving three confused teenagers.   
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
a/n: RYOOKI IS SO DAMN AWESOME! HE ROCKS THE WORLD! Lol...but, only in the light of made-up characters...anyway...I'm lovin' this! It's SO much better than Hiei's chapter 7 lol...so PLEASE review people! State your favorite part, and do it quickly!! Or else I shall hold the rest of this story hostage! Lol...latr!! 


	7. Survival

*Anemone's room...Anemone's reading Anneliese and Ellen's fanfiction, Kurama's out running a brief errand, and Hiei's trying to figure out her phone*  
  
Anemone: LOL! Funny stuff! They've got a great story going here! *tries to keep reading, but hears her phone clicking on and off as it had been for twenty minutes...on and off...on and off-* HIEI!  
  
Hiei: what Onna?!   
  
Anemone: stop tampering with my phone!  
  
Hiei: hn...I'll do as I like, human...*removes it from it's cradle, drops it back in place while studying it very carefully...keeps removing from cradle and dropping it back in place*  
  
Anemone: what are you trying to do?! Break it?!  
  
Hiei: hardly...*repeats*  
  
Anemone: UGH! Then what are you doing?!   
  
Hiei: impatience will kill you.  
  
Anemone: huh? I thought it was curiosity that killed people...  
  
Hiei: insolent human! I meant if you continue to behave impatiently, I will kill you! Shut up and continue on your merry little ningen way! *turns back to the phone*  
  
Anemone: it's MY phone! What are you trying to do?!  
  
Hiei: HN! If you MUST know, I suppose the only way to shut you up is to explain...  
  
Anemone: then get with the shutting me up, Hiei...  
  
Hiei: hn...human technology is fascinating in it's simplicity...I'm trying to decipher it's use. *phone rings, Hiei yelps and throws a ki blast at it*  
  
Anemone: HIEI!!!!  
  
Hiei: *glares at smoking debris* hn...*wanders over to her bed...sees a black ball on her shelf* hn? *picks it up and examines it*  
  
Anemone: DON'T YOU DARE BREAK MY MAGIC 8 BALL!  
  
Hiei: hn...? How does it work? Explain!  
  
Anemone: *glare* you ask it a question and shake it for a couple seconds then read the answer, okay?! Now be a good little fire Koorime and behave yourself!!  
  
Hiei: *evil glare, sits on her bed and examines the 8 ball...blink...shakes it* When is Kitsune coming back with my ice cream?  
  
8 Ball: "all signs point to yes."  
  
Hiei: *blink, glare* that made no sense...ONNA!  
  
Anemone: WHAT!  
  
Hiei: *glares at it* this didn't give me a good answer...  
  
Anemone: *rolls eyes* ask something else then, I don't know...*turns back to her reading*  
  
Hiei: hn...*shakes ball* Where is Kitsune?  
  
8 Ball: *lands on a corner*  
  
Hiei: hn? *shakes again*  
  
8 Ball: *lands on another corner*  
  
Hiei: *growl* Onna!!  
  
Anemone: WHAT HIEI?!  
  
Hiei: It's not even giving me words!  
  
Anemone: shake harder and shut up!  
  
Hiei: *glare* hn...*shakes it again* Where the hell is my ice cream?!  
  
8 Ball: "most likely."  
  
Hiei: UGH!! *draws Katana*  
  
Anemone: HEY! NO!! Don't even THINK about it, Flames!!  
  
Hiei: *really narrow glare, replaces his Katana to it's sheath* why does this filthy human artifact dislike me, Onna...?  
  
Anemone: have you been asking it yes/no questions...?  
  
Hiei: ...?  
  
Anemone: ...questions answered with a 'yes' or 'no'...  
  
Hiei: hn...does that matter?  
  
Anemone: ...yes...  
  
Hiei: *blink*......oh...  
  
Anemone: Hiei just ask it something about love, I dunno...  
  
Hiei: love?! Petty human emotions?! PAH!  
  
Anemone: Hiei shut up!  
  
Hiei: hn...*examines ball, shakes it again* is Anneliese my one true love?  
  
Anemone: ?!?! *collapses anime style off her chair, and her head bashes against the edge of her mattress...which shakes the ball even more*  
  
8 Ball: *would have said 'yes definitely', but Anemone's anime collapse shook it* "my sources say no."  
  
Hiei: *really evil glare at the answer, thinking that's the original answer* hn...  
  
Anemone: *now fully interested, bounces onto the bed* what did it say?! Huh?! Huh?! *grabs his collar* WELL?!  
  
Hiei: *glare* it said 'no', Onna...  
  
Anemone: aww...*snaps fingers*...and you and Anneliese were REALLY cute together...  
  
Hiei: *blush, glare* ...hn...  
  
Anemone: hey! Just for the sake of asking...ask it if Hinegeshi is your true love!  
  
Hiei: ?!  
  
Anemone: DO IT!  
  
Hiei: *pause, glare, shakes 8 Ball* is...Hinegeshi...my one true love...? *suddenly, Kurama bursts into the room running like hell, beyond frantic...is halfway through the room, slips on a magazine, falls, and just before hitting the ground bangs his head against the edge of the mattress, shaking the Magic 8 Ball...and Anemone and Hiei*  
  
Anemone: AH! *slips off the edge of the bed and lands on top of Kurama*  
  
Kurama: bmfh!!   
  
8 Ball: *was supposed to say 'very doubtful'* ..."it is certain."  
  
Hiei: GAH?!  
  
Anemone: *moans, rubs head* oww...FOX! What the hell was-?!  
  
Kurama: *cups her mouth before she can finish* SHH! They'll hear you!!  
  
Anemone: ...?  
  
Kurama: *meekly point to her window* take a look, Mones...  
  
Anemone: *blink, slowly heads towards her window...leans out...* OH MY GOD!  
  
*HUUUGE fangirl mob outside, waiting impatiently for any sign of Kurama*  
  
Random Fangirl: where'd he go?!  
  
Another Random Fangirl: I don't see him anywhere!!  
  
Yet Another: SUICHI-KUN!!!  
  
Rest of Mob: SUUUUIIIIIIICHIIIIIIII!!!!   
  
Hiei: *glares at Kurama as the girls continue to wail* seriously Kitsune, is this your ONLY sanctuary when you get chased by those damned mobs?!  
  
Anemone: UGH! *covers ears* how the hell did you NOT lose them?!  
  
Kurama: it isn't MY fault they chase me!  
  
Anemone and Hiei: YES IT IS!  
  
Anemone: *pricks, turns to look outside again*   
  
Hiei: hn?  
  
Kurama: what is it, Mones?  
  
Anemone: Anneliese and Ellen...  
  
Hiei: WHAT?! *pissed off, thinks they were chasing Kurama like the rest of the mob...gets dangerously jealous of Kurama...*  
  
Kurama: that's odd...I don't remember seeing them as I ran...  
  
Anemone: um...they're NOT a part of the mob, guys...  
  
Hiei: hn...? *he and Kurama head towards the window and look out...Ellen's got a paint ball gun and is firing at people less than a foot away from her, dodging punches from those very people...Anneliese managed to push her way to the front and is throwing water balloons at the fangirls*  
  
Anneliese: THIS IS PRIVATE PROPERTY!  
  
Ellen: *runs by screaming as fifty of her pissed off victims chase her* AHHHHH!!! *randomly fires her paint ball gun at everyone behind her*  
  
Kurama, Hiei, and Anemone: *sweatdrop*  
  
Kurama and Anemone: *slowly turn to look at Hiei...after a minute he side-glances them, then growls, blurs, reappears with a confused Anneliese and Ellen*  
  
Anneliese: huh?  
  
Ellen: YAY!!! SAFETY!!!  
  
Anemone: *sigh* okay this skit is WAY too long...  
  
Kurama: indeed...and for such a long introduction I barely had any lines.  
  
Anemone: trust me Fox...it's better this way...  
  
Kurama: *sigh*...chapter 8, enjoy.  
  
Hiei: *prick, pissed off glare* KITSUNE! WHERE'S MY ICE CREAM?!  
  
Kurama: *looks a little scared* go! Quickly!  
  
Chapter 8: Survival  
  
"HIEI!" Yusuke growled into the surrounding blackness of the abandoned hallway. He snarled in irritation, and threw a narrowed glare of frustration and worry to the dying red-head just before him.  
  
"C'mon, Kuwa! You can fight this!" the Detective reassured softly, his age finally creasing to his face. His dread and fear had matured him twice over.  
  
Kuwabara was sprawled to the floor, pinching his chest with white-knuckle tightness. His breaths were coarse and rough, pain singeing to his heart with every passing second.  
  
"Kuwabara! You can't die!" Yusuke breathed heavily. "You...you still...you still hafta kick my ass, remember?! Kuwabara!!"  
  
But the red-head struggled all the more. He roared grunts of pain, and a shot of ruby choked from his gaping lips, snaking down his chin.  
  
"Kuwabara!!" Yusuke shook firmly to his friend's shoulders, ramming him against the floor in several beats of fear. "No!! No wake up!!"  
  
Sweat beaded to his temple, his eyes pinched tensely and his expression taut in his agony. His heart was slowing...beat...beat......beat.........beat............  
  
"Kuwabara!" a faint call echoed against the various walls of the abandoned sector. Yusuke instantly jerked to the familiar tone, and his relieved glare caught hold to the sight of a sprinting Kurama and a black smudge in the air.  
  
"Kurama! Hiei!" the Detective hollered viciously over his shoulder, throwing an intense glare in their direction. "Help him!"  
  
Hiei jerked to a stop in his sprint, and gazed worriedly to his dying brother-in-law.  
  
Kurama skid to a graceful halt from his dash, instantly sliding to one knee as he overlooked Kuwabara's condition. Right away his eyes flashed wide in shock, and he dove into work. He first pressed two fingers to Kuwabara's jawbone, and pricked in frustration. "He nearly lacks in a pulse!"  
  
Instantly he tore his fingers from the dimming pulse signal, and stroked his sprawled hand through his mane, retracting an odd looking plant with a strange odor.  
  
"Ah dude!!" Yusuke gasped, clasping to his nose in a firm pinch. "That's wicked rancid, fox!"  
  
"It's the only plant of your realm that, if properly maneuvered, can double the speed of blood-flow..." Kurama husked half-fiercely, nimbly tearing to the fibers of the odorous branch. His fingers worked diligently and gracefully, swift and agile. His expression was tense in sincerity as he worked, ripping snags of branch fibers free and planting them beside him for later use. The exterior was completely useless, and the milky, mint-green center was poisonous...only the soft, flaky second layer could be of use to the red-head's condition, and only if it was untouched by the center's milky component. It had to be separated very delicately, but with a decent speed with Kuwabara's state...Kurama was the only capable person to handle that race with time and death.  
  
"Kitsune..." Hiei growled steadily, sensing Kuwabara's dimming Spirit Energy.  
  
"...I'm hurrying, Hiei...!" the fox countered with strained patience as he tore through the branch and carefully jerked loose the needed snags.  
  
Yusuke kept a hand to his friend's jawbone, breathing heavily as Kuwabara's pulse slowed all the more.  
  
"C'mon, fox!" the Detective growled in impatience and obvious worry, Kurama not bothering to waste precious time to throw a deadly glare for his teammate's direction.  
  
Stinging agony pierced to Kuwabara's tainted heart, his strained muscle, literally deteriorated after a lifetime of inhuman accomplishments. He could hardly breath without completely welling his lungs capacity, and further adding plight to his dying heart.  
  
Finally Kurama had managed to rip free the necessary amount of branch fibers, scooping them to his slender hands and rubbing them roughly in his palms, kneading it to a loose, light powder. "Yusuke open his lips..." he ordered sternly, the Detective following that precise command without a blink of hesitation, tearing Kuwabara's lips and tight teeth grit apart. Kurama dusted the powder into the gape, instantly whipping to yet another act.  
  
The fox steadied his hands over Kuwabara's jerking chest, smoothly planting forced presses into the human's chest. He'd press down, Kuwabara grunting subconsciously.   
  
"What is he doing?!" Yusuke eyed Hiei in haste and worry.  
  
"He's trying to pump the heart back into rhythm..." Hiei growled.  
  
"...but...didn't he say the plant would do that...?"  
  
  
  
"No, Detective..." Hiei sighed in annoyance. "...if Kurama was to allow merely the plant to take affect, not only would the reaction occur too late, but even if it did occur in time the sudden racing speed of his blood flow would literally tear his swollen, bruising heart apart..."  
  
"...and hitting his heart with help HOW?!" Yusuke gaped.  
  
"Kurama is easing the pulse back into sync...by starting the blood-flow off gently, the fool's heart has a much greater chance of taking the strain..."  
  
"...either way his survival is questionable..."   
  
Flame Koorime and Detective pricked to the voice behind them...and saw a distraught, worried Botan, and a calmer, yet equally scared Ai, the red-head having been the one to comment on Kuwabara's condition.   
  
"...Kazuma..." she whispered faintly, tears threatening to streak her ivory face as she, in sync with her father, knew the exceedingly narrow chances...  
  
"...Ai..." Yusuke slowly kicked to a stand, and wrapped his arms around her. "...it's okay, Foxy, he'll be fine..."   
  
"Oh, Kuwabara...!" Botan whimpered in her fear, easing beside her busy husband. Kurama was calmed slightly by her presence, but his diligent work wasn't dimmed in the least. He continued to pump pressure against Kuwabara's chest and to examine the afflicted man's pulse...which was now jagged and lacked in steadiness and repetition.  
  
"...damn!..." he cursed huskily, pressing firm jerks against Kuwabara's swelling chest and trying in near vanity to force the beats into alignment and symmetry. His tail *lol didya guys already forget he had one now?* flicked violently against his thigh, obviously expressing his frustration.  
  
Ai smoothly eased from the Detective's hug, and kneeled opposite Kurama. Her cool hands stroked over Kazuma's temple, wiping burning sweat from his tensed brow.  
  
"Kazuma...please wake up..." she cooed softly, her mere touch easing his tensed expression slightly.  
  
Suddenly, Kuwabara's onyx glare flashed wide, and a roar of pain escaped his gaping mouth. Botan yelped, Kurama drawing back slightly and guarding the bluette. Ai pricked slightly, jerking her hand to her collarbone and blinking slightly at the red-head's action. Yusuke yelped, Hiei grunted. Kuwabara fell unconscious, the strain on his heart beyond tolerable, even for him. His stubbornness abandoned him this day, his life's training having completely torn his heart apart. Now he was left with a bruising, strained muscle, barely keeping up a normal pulse pattern.   
  
"KUWABARA!!" Yusuke gasped in horror, his friend's pulse in tact, but on the cusp of life and death.  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
"KISHO STOP FREAKIN' SMELLING MY HAIR YOU PERVERT!!" Ryuuhayai roared angrily after he had managed to take several deep whiffs.  
  
Knowing she meant business, he backed off sheepishly, trying to hide a meek grin and an obvious blush. "Sorry, Hayai...it's kind of hard to ignore when my nose is right THERE...and with my sense of smell-"  
  
"I don't give a damn!" she hissed. "Back off or you'll taste the concrete of Tokyo's streets!"  
  
"Yes'm!" he cowered spinelessly, drawing back and gulping slightly.  
  
"Hn...!" she grunted in anger, throwing her corrosive glare for the far right, a blush creeping over the milky slope of her little nose.   
  
"So Ryuu..." he asked meekly, trying to break her ironically cold exterior *ironic cuz she's a flame demon*. "...how's life?"  
  
"Shut up and steer..." she hissed over her shoulder...before pricking to attention. A swell of a sense stung to her young Jagon as she and the Reaper loomed over the city, far to the west of Tokyo. "...Father...?!"  
  
"Hn?" Kisho blinked. "What?"  
  
"Kisho! Head for Kane's house...!" she ordered briskly, eyeing the immediate direction with concern.   
  
"What?! What about Hine-"   
  
  
  
"-DO IT!" she roared, gripping firmly to the oar and whipping it's steering for the west against the boat man's will, Kisho allowing escape a yelp of confusion at the sharp, speedy turn.   
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~% *a half hour after Kurama found Kuwabara*  
  
"Oh Kazuma...!" Yukina whimpered delicately, tears breaking loose from her long lashes and clicking as pearls to the floor. There in the next room lay her husband to a mat, Kuwabara just barely teetering on the scale between life and death. "K-Kaz-zuma-a!!!"   
  
Kurama had a gentle hand laid to the mint-haired apparition's shoulder, deep in his own concern as he tried to comfort her.   
  
Beside the unconscious red-head sat a distraught Kane, his onyx glare narrowed and set nimbly to Kazuma. "...father..." he breathed softly.  
  
Near the entire Urimeshi Team, both Senior and Junior, were out in the vast garden, late evening, and beyond worried for the Kuwabara's. Gakilei leaned against a post, casting worried glares for Kane's silhouette through the thin slide-doors of his dojo home. Yukio grasped reassuringly to his twin's shoulder, and he two eyed his best friend with concern.  
  
Ai and Hiei were silent, calm, but not all that positive as they sat weighed in worry...they were to the far end of the garden, cut off from their companions in sincerity and thought.  
  
Botan and Yusuke waited patiently for Kurama to ease from Yukina's company, back to where he could give a full report on Kuwabara's condition.  
  
"DAMN...!!" Yusuke growled. "...I knew Kuwabara wasn't all that healthy lately...why did he take those demons on his OWN!" he rammed the side of his white-knuckled fist against the wall, denting into it in his inner frustration.   
  
Gakilei buried her face in her hand, sighing slowly as annoyance was forced from her system.   
  
"Typical Kuwabaka, Detective," Hiei growled lowly. Each of his companions threw a dirty glare in his direction.  
  
"Hiei that was perfectly insensitive and I shall NOT stand for it!" Botan grunted friskily, before the flame Koorime's narrow glare stifled her to mere growls of irritation. Just then, the calm Kurama slid the veranda door aside, and stepped out calmly...he almost looked ten years older.   
  
"Kurama...!" Botan embraced him slowly, binding him in a gentle hug...he reluctantly returned it, unable to compute Kuwabara's near-death experience.  
  
"I don't understand...he always seemed on the peak of health..." he breathed quietly into her hair, the bluette drawing back and blinking those large pink eyes in that remarkably adorable way.   
  
"Kurama...?" she piped softly.   
  
"...where is Kisho? And Ryuuhayai, and Keiko? Hinegeshi?" he clicked sternly from his worry of Kuwabara to his worry of the missing family members. He solemnly eyed for Gakilei and Yukio, patiently awaiting an answer from the Urimeshi's.   
  
"...Kisho and Ryuu took off, and Gakilei and I were about to head home to protect Mom...but Kane sensed Kazuma's tattered presence, and we came straight here." Yukio shrugged in embarrassment, ashamed of having left Keiko alone and being unaware of his friends' whereabouts.  
  
"...I see..." Kurama sighed slowly.  
  
"You WHAT?!" Yusuke roared to his son and daughter, the twins instantly pricking to attention and fear. "You mean to tell me that after you ran into Ryooki and he told you to go home and protect your mother from those demons you DIDN'T?!"  
  
"Detective..." Hiei grunted sternly, his corrosive eyes shut half-calmly. "...they just said they were heading home, but when realization overcame them of the fool's predicament, they decided to investigate..." a breath of a forced smirk crossed his concerned face. "...it's in their blood, after all, as Detectives..."  
  
"That's not the point!" Yusuke roared, turning to face his children yet again. "Demons did THAT to Kuwabara!! And he is a skilled fighter!! Imagine what they could do to your MOTHER!"   
  
"Detective," Hiei wrinkled his nose. "You are being an idiot again."   
  
Yusuke growled fiercely, about to lunge in attack at the flame Koorime, until a bash of flesh smacked him upside the head.  
  
"-WHA?!" he blinked in pain and shock...there stood his Keiko, annoyed and ready to deck him again.   
  
"Oh Yusuke shut up!" she hissed. "...I could hear you down the street yelling at Gakilei and Yukio..."   
  
"HOW DID YOU KNOW TO COME HERE?!" Yusuke gaped.  
  
"Me, silly!" another voice piped tauntingly...this time from directly above. All eyes cast instantly upwards, let corrosive ruby ones.   
  
"Hinegeshi," Hiei smirked before finally eyeing his wife, hovering aloft her oar.   
  
She changed semi-dramatically. Her ruby mane was streaked with a lock of black and just barely brushed her shoulders. She still possessed her little frame, and delicately ivory-light skin, but her crystalline eyes had narrowed slightly with humanoid aging. *Koenma did the same thing to her as he did to Hiei...now they both look like adults and not teens*   
  
"How did you know of Kuwabaka's situation?" Hiei smirked morbidly.   
  
"Now Darling that isn't very nice," Hinegeshi practically pouted in disappointment towards his immense insensitivity. Hiei pricked slightly, then half-glared in embarrassment * as in –_–'* .   
  
"Indeed," both Kurama and Ai smirked in unison for the already irritated flame Koorime. Hiei grunted fiercely to the Senior Minamino red-head, and ignored the other.   
  
Keiko sighed heavily, approaching Botan slowly...Hinegeshi followed as she descended for the solid ground below. "How is she?" Keiko asked lightly, the three examining Yukina's softly weeping form through the veranda's Japanese door.  
  
"She's been crying since Kurama told her..." Botan answered with her head bowed solemnly.   
  
"How's he?" Hinegeshi piped in hope.   
  
"Not great..." Kurama sighed faintly, remembering his patient's condition all too clearly.   
  
"...poor Yukina..." Keiko and Hinegeshi breathed in unison.  
  
"...poor Kuwabara..." Yusuke sighed.  
  
"...poor Kane..." Gakilei, Yukio, and Ai murmured in pity and sadness.   
  
"...but...in all seriousness..." Kurama asked the two newcomers gently. "...how did the two of you know to come here? And how did you make it through all of southern Tokyo to reach Kuwabara's home?"  
  
"We flew, Kurama," Hinegeshi chuckled slightly.   
  
"...there are demons after our families, Mother..." a distinctively morbid voice pricked into hearing...Ryuuhayai leapt from the scythe's edge and pinned to a graceful landing in the dead center of the spread gathering...Kisho soon followed, whipping his scythe smoothly through the thin night air and allowing the energy to slip back to his nimble fingertips.  
  
"OH MY GOD!" Kisho instantly yelped in shock, stumbling in his footing. "D-D-DAD! WHAT THE-?!"  
  
A pause of bafflement, before Kurama realized...this was the first time Kisho had ever laid eyes...on Kurama's silver tail.  
  
"Erm...you like it?" Kurama asked meekly, chuckling awkwardly to himself.  
  
"How did you-?!"  
  
"-Kisho, later...!" Ryuuhayai growled, turning in all seriousness to face her mother yet again. "It isn't safe to fly around here, Mother...there are demons in every corner, awaiting our vulnerability."  
  
"...and you knew this...how...?!" Gakilei eyed the she-dragon in awed confusion.  
  
"Father." Ryuuhayai smirked in sync to the calm Hiei...near the entire group was terrified at how identical they looked with that smirk...  
  
"I told her all telepathically as she and Kitsune Junior flew here." he explained through the genetic smirk, both Urimeshi teams nodding as they stomached the situation.  
  
"Keiko! Will you PLEASE answer me HOW you and Hinegeshi knew to come here?!"  
  
"Oh pipe down Detective..." a lazy scent of damp stone filled the lungs of each Urimeshi team member...a scent not a one of them possessed. A broad figure extended from the bowels of a night's shadow, a ruby mane lacing to the shifting breezes. "I was with them...I had told them to group here in all manners of safety."   
  
Every person to witness him, let Hinegeshi and Keiko, who had been escorted by him, pricked...Ryooki.   
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
*Anemone's room...the mob is still there, and Kurama is scared out of his mind...this mob is WAAAY bigger than usual...Hiei's glaring at Kurama for not having ice cream, and he's also shifting back to glare at the magic 8 ball...Anneliese, Ellen, and Anemone are plotting a means of ridding Anemone's yard of Suichi-Kun lovers*  
  
Ellen: *at the window, steadying her paint ball gun in aim* ...one...two...three!! *fires*  
  
Random Fangirl: ow...!  
  
Ellen: MUAHAHAHAHA!!  
  
Anneliese: Ellen! Stop that and help plan to get those girl's off the-*suddenly, THOUSANDS of screams ring through...instantly Anneliese, Anemone, Ellen, and Kurama whip to look towards Hiei...and find him missing.*  
  
Anemone: oh shit-  
  
Hiei: MUAHAHAHA!! *heard from outside on the roof...is throwing mini darkness flame dragons at the mob* THAT'S WHAT YOU BITCHES GET FOR DEPRIVING ME OF MY ICE CREAM!!! MUAHAHAHA!!  
  
Anneliese: ...wow...  
  
Ellen: COOL!  
  
Anemone: *slaps face* WHY did you throw his ice cream at them when you ran, Fox?! Now he's gonna be arrested again...  
  
Kurama: ...  
  
Hiei: MUAHAHAHA!  
  
Anneliese and Anemone: *slow side-glance to Kurama*  
  
Kurama: *looking out the window ignoring them* ...no.  
  
Anneliese and Anemone: -but he's!-  
  
Kurama: -no.-  
  
Anneliese and Anemone: -gonna kill!-  
  
Kurama: -no.-  
  
Hiei: *seriously gonna kill them* MUAHAHA!  
  
Ellen: *aims paint ball gun as Anneliese, Anemone, and Kurama continue to argue* ...one...two...three! *fires at Hiei, the green paint ball hitting in right between the shoulder blades and sending making him slip off the edge of the roof...by now all the fangirls had run away*  
  
Anemone, Anneliese, and Kurama: ...O_O'  
  
Ellen: haha!! Score!!  
  
Hiei: *growl-moan, heard from fifty feet down* ...oooOOOW! Damn!!  
  
All: *leans out window*  
  
Kurama: ...I...think...he's alright...  
  
Anneliese and Anemone: *annoyed glare*  
  
Ellen: *strokes paint ball gun* I love you...  
  
Anneliese, Anemone, and Kurama: –_–'  
  
Anemone: y-eeeeah...anyway, erm...another chapter, done...  
  
Hiei: *voice in distance* ...where the hell am I?!  
  
Anemone: Fox, tell 'em to review.  
  
Kurama: please review, readers.  
  
Anemone: later! 


	8. The Terror of Ryooki's Past

WARNING: SAD! Very emotional and sad...and violent...YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED, DON'T FLAME ME..................please...?  
  
Okay...basically, Yukina is inside, Kuwabara is in a bed in the next room with Kane at his side, and everyone, Yusuke, Yukio, Gakilei, Kurama, Ai, Kisho, Hiei, Ryuuhayai, Hinegeshi, Botan, and Keiko are all outside...and Ryooki's there too ^_~  
  
a/n: ~+~...~+~ means it's a scene flashback that's being told aloud.   
  
~+~ means it's a pause where the person hearing it reacts.  
  
+~+ is when the pause ends and the flashback-scene starts up again.  
  
Chapter 9: The Terror of Ryooki's Past  
  
"...Ryooki..." Kurama breathed slowly, his expression calm as he subconsciously stood to guard Botan. The bluette blinked slightly as Kisho, Ryuuhayai, Yusuke, and her husband tensed, but the others remained calm and let there muscles loose.  
  
"Hey...you're the guy who saved me..." Gakilei half-smirked. Ryooki nodded his chin toward her, then allowed her nimble glare to shoot for his sibling.  
  
"...I saved you and your little mate, and you STILL don't trust me, Yoko?" Ryooki sneered calmly.  
  
"That was indeed an honorable feat, Ryooki...but it was near thirty years ago...how do I know that you are not corrupted?" Kurama countered with a solace smirk.  
  
"Missy barked the same of me..." Ryooki glanced for the side, straight at Ai. The teenager countered his narrow glare with her very own, but the demon simply snorted a chuckle.   
  
"She's just like you...good...the world is in need of more able women," he smirked. Gakilei and Ryuuhayai both grunted, knowing quite well they were Ai's equals. Ryooki pricked slightly at their jaggedly annoyed auras, and shifted to grace them each with narrow emerald glares and a calm smile.   
  
"Ah...daughter of Hiei..." he smirked calmly to the demi-Dragon...on impulse Hiei grunted and opened a single eye, as if in preparation for anything...and on equal preparation did Kisho dive his footing to just in front of her.  
  
"Kisho...calm down, son..." Kurama smiled softly to the bluette, Kisho eyeing him for a silent moment, then allowing his tensed muscles to loosen slightly. Ryuuhayai eyed the great beast with corrosive eyes.  
  
"How do you know me?" she asked narrowly. "We've never met before."  
  
"Well, if you don't count the overly BLATANT physical similarities..." Ryooki smirked. "...your scent is what convinced me that you were his daughter.  
  
"Clever...and just what we need...yet another fox-wolf with a keen sense of smell..." she glared narrowly at Kisho...who she had yet to forgive for basking in her aroma. The bluette grinned sheepishly, then narrowed his expression yet again.   
  
"Ah...and Mr. Defensive here is my nephew," Ryooki grinned, Kisho pricking. Without anyone noticing, Ryooki's eyes seemed to dull of focus while pinned to Kisho.   
  
"W...w-what?!" Kisho stuttered through a gape. A gentle hand clasped to the boy's shoulder...Kisho instantly jerked behind...to lock in emerald eyes identical to his own. Kurama smiled reassuringly, and allowed loose a deep, rolling sigh as he trudged past his son.  
  
"...Father...?" Ai asked suspiciously.  
  
"You all stay here...I need to speak with my brother in private."  
  
"Sure you don't want backup, Fox?" Yusuke asked flatly.   
  
"Nay...Yusuke, try to comfort Yukina a bit...the rest of you, try not to follow after us."  
  
"...but...Kurama..." Botan asked in a start. Kurama slowly cast her a loving smile and soft eyes.  
  
"Please help Yusuke, love," he smiled, then shifted to walk in sync with the now retreating Ryooki.  
  
"O...k..." she blinked slowly, then sighed. "...don't get in trouble, Kura..."   
  
The two hybrids ventured beyond the shadows of the trees blocking off the Kuwabara property from the surrounding masses...they stalked slowly and silently, followed after by twin pink eyes, twin caramel, twin ruby, twin chocolate, and a single glare of emerald.  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
"Why did you venture to the human world, Ryooki?" Kurama asked blandly once they had completely shed themselves of the Rekai Tenkai's presence *did I spell that right?!*   
  
"I need your help, Brother..." the demonic of the two pulsed in a heavy, pained sigh as he allowed his tensed shoulders to sag.   
  
"Why?"  
  
A pause, a stifling silence that robbed Kurama of steady breaths as he awaited words to grace the immediate hearing.  
  
"...I envy you, Yoko..." the older suddenly breathed, half to himself, half a slight attempt towards Kurama's hearing.  
  
"Nani?"  
  
"...your son...fifteen I'd say, is he not?"  
  
A silence, Kurama blinking slightly in confusion as he tried to string the circumstances together. "...yes...he will be sixteen in three months..."  
  
"...a strong one, that he is..." Ryooki, back turned all the while, moaned a rasp to himself.  
  
"...yes, I am very proud of him, and of his sister..."  
  
"...mm...she too is impressive..."  
  
"Why do you envy me, Ryooki? And why did you slip into the human world?"  
  
"...your son..."   
  
"Kisho? What is his connection to any of this...?" Kurama narrowed his eyes slowly as he breathed a suspicious, protective tone.  
  
"...nothing, really..." Ryooki sighed. "...it's just...my son resembled him."  
  
Kurama instantly pricked. "You...you have a son?!"  
  
"I had one...yes..."  
  
"...what do you mean, 'had'?" Kurama blinked.  
  
A long, choking silence. "Ryooki!"  
  
~+~*Ryooki's POV flashback...he's narrating this for Kurama*~+~  
  
It had been nearly thirty years since Grapko's demise, as you'd know, brother...I had found a mate, a beautiful Fox demonness by name of Krentia, strong and spirited...together, we had a son, an infant of silver, nearly blue hair, and of the fox-like emerald eyes...like your Kisho, he possessed the tail of the wolf, and not of the fox. Really, the only difference I saw between your Kisho and my Taro was the obvious gap in age, and that my son adorned wolf ears. Truly, they were identical in every other way.   
  
He was so fragile, so little...the first infant I had held in ages...and he was my own. How I couldn't help but love him...in such a way you and I never were by our father.  
  
Our mother, Jiaanti, lived with us, as to keep her safe and secure from our father...but the moment my mate was capable after Taro's birth, she sent me out for the hunt, to nearly instantly introduce him to meat.  
  
So, I left, to stalk after prey while staying in a close range...when I heard Krentia's blood-curdling scream. I instantly dropped my hunt and sprinted for our home...and what I saw has been branded into my eyes forever.  
  
~+~  
  
"What is it you saw, Ryooki?" Kurama asked, though he nearly instantly regretted it.  
  
Ryooki paused, a stabbing pain singeing in his heart...what he was forced to witness...had scarred him beyond healing...the scene was burned into his eyes, and the flaming, open wound could never be sealed.  
  
+~+  
  
The instant I returned to my cave...there they lay, golden flames licking to their motionless forms...Mother, her throat and wrists completely slashed and leaking of blood, her fragile eyes gaping in her frozen slumber.  
  
~+~  
  
Instantly Kurama pricked, sharps breaths quivering in the farthest depths of his esophagus. "...Mother..." he whispered rashly, his knees weakening under the intensity of the shock.  
  
Ryooki solemnly bowed his head...and he forced himself to continue.  
  
+~+  
  
And my mate...my beloved Krentia...was sprawled to the ground...her heart ripped from her very chest, her last scream being what had called me to her side.  
  
~+~*End flashback switch offs*~+~  
  
Kurama stuttered uncontrollably. "He...he actually...!"  
  
Ryooki pinched his eyes with forced strain, trying in all force to hold back tears. "...and then...there was my infant son...Taro..."   
  
Kurama jerked to attention, unsure if he would be able to stomach what next Ryooki was to say. "Oh please, no..." he breathed softly. "...he was an infant...a child...!"  
  
"Do you think Grapko cared?!" Ryooki hissed, his body pulsating in mad jerks of whimpers and stifled screams. "My little Taro, he wasn't even a week old! And he was Grapko's only direct grandson! Your children are different...their father's body was conceived of humans, so they are Grapko's indirect grandchildren...Taro was related directly!...but Grapko didn't care...he was insane, mad, a beast indescribable by words!!"  
  
"...Ryooki..." Kurama stuttered softly. "...what...what happened...?..."  
  
The hybrid growled and roared, holding back intense screams...and tears broke loose from the quivering brims of his naturally narrow eyes.  
  
"Grapko had awaited for my return...he purposely kept Taro alive, for merely that instant of my presence..." he trailed off in mad sobs, collapsing to his knees. "...my little Taro...!"  
  
"Ryooki! What did he do?!"  
  
"Yoko we have to kill this beast!" Ryooki snarled violently, saliva to the corners of his tensely grit teeth as he growled darkly. "We have to ensure his soul is unreachable in the farthest pits of the fiery hells of neither human nor demonic punishment! He is unworthy of even the netherworld!"   
  
"RYOOKI!" Kurama dashed to his fallen brother's side, and clenched to his shoulders. "What happened?! Tell me!"  
  
"I came here, to the human world...because...because...I couldn't let what happened my family happen to yours!"   
  
"What did he do?! What's happened?!"   
  
Ryooki whimpered and cries pulsed his torn spirit...tears streaked salty down his cheeks as he was pried from his denial and into narrating the horror that was merely days past.  
  
"...Yoko...he held Krentia's heart in his hand...and the instant I sprinted into the scene, he gnarled his fist about it, completely destroying the delicate muscle! And in his free held, dangled by the tail was my little Taro, crying and screaming for his passed mother!!"  
  
"...Ryooki...!" Kurama tried in all effort to not collapse in his own waves of shock...he had to stay strong...for Ryooki.  
  
"...his eyes...those horrifying golden eyes...!" the hysterical fox-wolf roared. "...they laughed at me...they were wild at me...! He gripped to Taro's tail..." cries and screams of insane sorrow and terror pulsed Ryooki's position. "...my little Taro!"  
  
"Ryooki! Please! What did he do?!"  
  
"He ripped Taro's tail straight from his fragile body!!"  
  
Kurama pricked in total shock. "W-what?!?!"  
  
"His spine was jerked loose, blood and flesh spraying every which way!"  
  
Kurama stuttered insanely, unable to compute.  
  
"No...no, no...!" he whispered in utter denial. "...it...it can't be...that's beyond barbaric! How can even Grapko stoop so low?! This cannot be!"  
  
"My son's final scream will haunt me forever, Yoko!! You must help me! We MUST kill Grapko! By any and all means, we have to slay him for all eternity!!" Ryooki collapsed into mad sobs, unable to control them as he had before the rest of the Rekai Tenkai...the carefree, smug, ever-smirking Ryooki each had found themselves meeting that day had surrendered to inner plights and vexes...and seemed beyond restoration.  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
Silence as twin sets of ruby watched the scene overhead within the bowels of a park tree...corrosive blood eyes gaping in shock, and locking for the partner set.  
  
"Father...!" Ryuuhayai breathed heavily in fear.  
  
"Ryuu...I'm afraid..." Hiei slowly cast his narrowly-terrified glare downwards for the crying hybrid. "...that this is merely the beginning...slaughter will haunt us all, a shroud of death is about to seal over us."  
  
Ryuuhayai gaped in her overwhelmed state of emotion.  
  
"Ryuu...you are young, and haven't tasted the flavor of nearly deprived life..." Hiei breathed softly.  
  
"...father...?"  
  
"...You must promise...to shed yourself of any connections to this matter..." he ordered blandly.   
  
"I will do no such thing!" she snapped, and Hiei growled viciously.  
  
"Ryuu! This is not your battle! Nor is it Kisho's, Ai's, Gakilei's, Yukio's, or Kane's! You all will remain in the human world where you face no danger!"  
  
"No danger?! Father, Grapko's henchmen have slipped into the human world to slay the human loved ones of the Urimeshi Team! It's hardly safer!"  
  
"YOU'VE NEVER DEALT WITH GRAPKO! HE NEARLY SLEW YOKO KURAMA!" Hiei roared in anger, snarling violently. Ryuuhayai gaped slightly, then tensed her expression to match his own.  
  
"I refuse to allow you near such a beast! Let me help you! I've your abilities, I can be of use!"  
  
"You will stay in the human world, you will protect your mother, and you will not disobey me, Ryuu..." his tone was dangerously low and threatening, brash and rolling smooth. Ryuuhayai glared ruby daggers straight at her father, and grunted his signature 'hn', blurring roughly against the air back for her cousin's property. Hiei sighed deeply, hurt at this having been the first time he demanded so strictly of her. He cast his corrosive glare downwards to his partner and the now calming Ryooki...  
  
Slowly, Kurama eased his narrow emerald glare upwards straight into the masses of branch and leaf veiling his Dragon comrade. "What are we going to do, Hiei?"  
  
"Hn...we're going to fight, Kitsune...and this time..." he blurred, jerking to a halt before his stern partner. "...we're going to leave Grapko dead."  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
Don't be mad at me for killing Jiaanti, Krentia, and Taro! *whips out handy-dandy butterfly net as a HUGE crowd of pissed off Jiaanti-Krentia-Taro fans come sprinting out at her* EEP! *ducks behind Mirai Trunks, who gets trampled* er...right, anywho...don't worry...I got an idea to help out the situation...sides, you can't blame me! In class we had to watch The Mummy, and that scared the bejesus outta me cuz it was the first time I ever saw it and it was very violent lol the first scene was like traumatizing...it like scarred me lol...but! Don't be mad! I'll fix it! Please review, and please state your favorite parts *if you have any in this lol* Latr!! 


	9. A Calm Instant

*Anemone's room...Kurama's carrying in a wobbly Hiei, who if you don't remember fell off the roof via Ellen's paint ball gun...muahaha...Anemone's explaining the entire Magic 8 Ball scenario to Anneliese and Ellen, Ellen growing steadily hysterical and Anneliese...well, glaring at it as Anemone tells them what it said*  
  
Anemone: ...and THEN it said that Hinegeshi is his one true love! Can you believe it?  
  
Anneliese: *growls at it*  
  
Ellen: LOL!! *turns to Hiei* Wow...gonna rethink your relationship with Anneliese?  
  
Anneliese: ELLEN!  
  
Ellen: what?  
  
Hiei: *leaning on Kurama, blink* ...?  
  
Kurama: er...Anemone? I have something to tell you...  
  
Anemone: what, Fox?  
  
Kurama: erm...it's about Hiei...*looks a little nervous*  
  
Anemone: yeah?  
  
Hiei: who the hell are all of you?!  
  
Girls: ?!  
  
Kurama: uh...he seems to have amnesia from his collapse off the roof...  
  
Anneliese and Anemone: *pause, turn to glare at Ellen*  
  
Ellen: ...what?  
  
Kurama: ...he doesn't remember anything after Maze Castle.  
  
Anemone: ...so...he still knows who YOU are...  
  
Kurama: yes...  
  
Hiei: Kitsune! Why are we associating with filthy ningen onnas?!  
  
Anneliese: *rolling up sleeves, pissy glare* feh! Maybe a good one straight to the head'll jog his memory!  
  
Kurama: O_O Anneliese I wouldn't-  
  
Anneliese: *decks him upside the head, he collapses unconscious*  
  
All: O_O  
  
Kurama: ...do that...  
  
Hiei: *mumble-mumble, jerks back to consciousness* *blink, looks at Kurama, suspicious glare* ...who are you...?  
  
Kurama: ...–_–; Anneliese...look what you did...  
  
Anemone: Damn! She must've hit pretty hard to make him forget you, Kurama...  
  
Hiei: where the damned hell am I?! *glares really narrowly at Ellen* ...and why do I get the prickly feeling that I REALLY hate you...?  
  
Ellen: heh heh...*chuckles nervously as she hides her paint ball gun behind her* ...no reason...  
  
Hiei: hn...*blink, focuses eyes in personal thought* ...hn...? What the hell was that?! What's a 'hn'?! And why do I feel the urge to say it...?!  
  
All: O_o   
  
Kurama: my God! There was actually a time before Hiei possessed his signature grunt?!  
  
Anemone: GAH! It's the end of the world!! Hiei actually forgot his favorite word!!  
  
Anneliese and Ellen: AHH!!  
  
Hiei: ...? OW! *clasps hand over forehead...feels his Jagon* AH! What the hell?!  
  
Anemone: Anneliese you stay AWAY from me with that right hook...  
  
Ellen: *smirks evilly* we can manipulate him now! And make him nice!  
  
Kurama, Anneliese, and Anemone: *raised eyebrow* *look at Ellen for a long pause, blink at Hiei, who's swearing every other word* ...–_–;;  
  
Ellen: uh...yeah...never mind...with a mouth like THAT...  
  
Hiei: I HAVE A THIRD EYE?! WHAT THE F*CK?!?  
  
Kurama: Hiei! Language!  
  
Hiei: ...*waiting for the alleged 'Hiei' to respond, looks around for another person*  
  
All: –_–;  
  
Hiei: ...who the hell is Hiei? And I heard no one speak of swears to be scolded, Red...*glares dangerously*  
  
Kurama: ...erm...YOU'RE, Hiei, Hiei...  
  
Hiei: ...? Nonsense! My name is not Hiei! My name is...is......uh......  
  
Kurama: *smirk* ...yes?  
  
Hiei: shut up! I don't feel like telling you, you filthy human! Hn! *pricks, mutters in annoyance* Damn AGAIN with the 'hn'?! What the hell?!  
  
All: –_–;  
  
Anemone: well THIS will be interesting to cope with...  
  
Ellen: maybe if we give him some ice cream he'll zone out...  
  
Anneliese: yeah...then we can figure out what to do with him...  
  
Kurama: but Mones doesn't have any ice cream in stock.  
  
Anemone, Anneliese, and Ellen: *side glance, smirk evilly at Kurama*  
  
Kurama: WHAT?! But, the last time I went out to get his ice cream I was chased home by a mob! And it resulted in THAT! *gestures for Hiei, who's blinking in every direction and reaches out for Anemone's Magic 8 Ball...blinks at it*  
  
Anemone: *sigh* FINE...I'll go with you, Kurama.  
  
Kurama: *hopeful* really?  
  
Anemone: yeah...  
  
Ellen: what will going with him do to the chances of him being chased home again?  
  
Anemone: I could pose as his girlfriend or something...*Kurama blushes*  
  
Kurama: ahem...right...then let's go, Mones...you two, *turns to Ellen and Anneliese* can you keep him busy?  
  
Anneliese and Ellen: *blink at the confused Hiei* yeah/we can handle it/sure...  
  
Kurama: alright then...try not to anger him while I'm not here...  
  
Ellen: *whips out paint ball gun* if he even TRIES...  
  
All but Hiei and Ellen: –_–;  
  
Kurama: *sigh* try not to anger him anyway...come on Mones we have to make this quick...  
  
Anemone: rightio! *turns to readers, halfway out the door* don't worry about Hiei...we'll figure out something...a fresh new chapter up and waiting...latr!  
  
Kurama and Anemone: *leave*  
  
Anneliese and Ellen: *blink, side-glance, look at Hiei*  
  
Anneliese: *deep breath, fake smile* um...Hiei?  
  
Hiei: ...  
  
Anneliese: ...Hiei...?  
  
Hiei: ...  
  
Ellen: oh my GOD! Your NAME is Hiei!   
  
Hiei: ...?  
  
Ellen and Anneliese: –_–; this is gonna be harder than I thought...  
  
Chapter 10: A Calm Instant  
  
Ryuuhayai jerked to a rigged halt in the center of the Kuwabara yard, the remaining persons in waiting pricking at her entrance.  
  
"Where's Hiei?" Gakilei blinked.  
  
"Hn." The teenager growled in aggravation...instantly the group backed off.  
  
"Did you hear what Grapko said?" Yusuke tried cautiously, then met an almost scared tint in Ryuuhayai's narrowed glare.   
  
"You're not going to like this..." the she-dragon started in a sigh, then began to saturate the immediate air with words soaked in terrifying truth.  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
The silhouette of an emotional beauty, her head hanging as she bit back tears and sniffed quietly.  
  
"Yukina, Sweety?" Botan dared venture into the dark room, and cautiously inched closer to her dear demonic friend.  
  
Yukina jerked up, her minty spikes swaying. Her wide scarlet eyes were framed and sagging with a tired expression, and she was surrounded on all sides with tiny, glossy beads originated from her sorrow.  
  
"Oh...Botan..." she managed a meek, innocent little smile, as she bit back yet another painful flow of tears.   
  
"Sweety! Are you alright?" Botan embraced the she-demon quickly, stroking Yukina's soft mint hair.   
  
"I'm...I'm, fine, Botan..." she stuttered through a vain attempt towards a grin.  
  
"No you're not! You're not fine, Sweety...what to do...Oh! I know! I'm going to go make you some tea, yes sir! Fix you right up!" the ferry girl flashed a light-hearted grin as to comfort her dear friend, and ventured for the kitchen. She nearly tripped over the edge of her slightly lopsided kimono, but she managed to stammer for the kitchen without much trouble.  
  
"Oh phooey!" she was heard cursing a room away...Yukina couldn't help but giggle...Botan always forgot where the green tea was kept.  
  
"Let me see...is it in...here? UGH!"  
  
"Botan?" Yukina smiled delicately. "Do you need any help?"  
  
"Uh...No! Of course not, Sweety! I've got it all under con-OW!!" the ferry girl muffled and muttered mad swears as she grunted in pain...she had accidentally splashed some boiling water on her arm.  
  
"Botan?!" Yukina pricked, easing to a stand and jogging for the kitchen...Botan was sprawled on the floor, swearing under her breath and gripping her arm angrily. "Botan! Are you alright?!"  
  
Botan pricked up, side-glanced nervously, and flashed a meek, embarrassed smile. "Um...yes?"  
  
"Oh my goodness! Your arm!" Yukina rushed for the ferry girl's side, easing to the floor and examining her friend's burned flesh. "Botan-chan! I can't believe you hurt yourself like this just to make tea!"  
  
"Oh come now it's not that-OWWWW!!" she screeched as Yukina touched the singed skin. Instantly a pound of wood against wood cracked through the air and entered Yusuke, Yukio, and Kisho, running with a vengeance and ready for attack...that is, until each caught sight of the predicament...a puddle of hot water on the floor, and Botan collapsed to the ground having burned herself. The three gaped slightly, then sighed.  
  
"Well I suppose THIS explains a lot..." Yukio deduced aloud.   
  
"Dammit, Botan!" Yusuke roared. "We thought you were being attacked!"  
  
"Are you okay, Mom?" Kisho inquired in worry, having managed to smell burned flesh.  
  
"Oh! Of course I am, Honey!" Botan smiled perkily, then practically screamed in pain as Yukina attempted her healing powers on the burn.  
  
"Mom?!" Kisho jerked for her side, allowing his scythe to disintegrate into nothing. He leapt over the glossy puddle and to Botan's opposite side...everyone from outside had gained interest in the situation...Ai sprinted in at Botan's scream, joined by Keiko, Hinegeshi and Ryuuhayai.   
  
"Mother?! What's wrong?!" Ai managed to ease around next to Yukio, and leaned slightly on his shoulder. "Mother?"  
  
"I'm FINE people! Why is everyone worried about little old me?" Botan managed to chuckle awkwardly, before screeching yet again.  
  
"Because your screaming frickin' bloody murder, Botan!" Yusuke growled, before being decked upside the head by a glaring Keiko.  
  
"Enough! I'm fine! AHHHHH!!" she shrieked, Kisho collapsing from his squat straight on his rear as he pinned his hands to his sensitive ears.  
  
"OW!" he managed to roar. "Mom please! Don't scream so loud!"  
  
Botan winced a meek smile, before forcing herself to bite back yet another scream...Yukina's attempts weren't nearly as gentle as the norm...her flowing energy was rigid, rough...painful! It stroked pulses of pain throughout the tender, raw burn, which still smogged with heat. Yukina's worry for Kazuma was racking her concentration.  
  
"Mom! I think you're hurting Botan...!" a voice pricked into hearing...the group jerked to face him...the disheveled youth of mint hair.  
  
"Kane..." Gakilei breathed softly, having not seen him for nearly an hour...the youth had been in silence by Kazuma's side.  
  
"Here...let me help..." he smiled calmly, easing to the front of the group and by his mother's side...he pressed a soft, cool touch to Botan's burn, easing the pain dramatically. Botan's tense shoulders sagged and her taut expression loosened with a single sigh of relief. Kisho too smiled as he gripped to his mother's free hand...no more screaming...salvation!  
  
Yukina strained to calm her senses as her energy seeped into Botan's burn, the skin quickly re-piecing and stitching back into place. With Kane's smooth touch, the process was MUCH less painful...it almost felt...good.  
  
Botan pulsed in a slow sigh as her burn was finally healed over, and she smiled faintly. "Do you still want tea, Yukina?"  
  
"Say no!!" the group roared, knowing the obvious chances of Botan burning herself again. Yukina smiled meekly, then eased to a stand...walking smoothly for Kazuma's room. Silence, the situation was bleak...not to mention, Ryuuhayai had managed to inform the group of Grapko's terror to Ryooki...no one was truly in best of moods.  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
"Poor Yukina..." Botan sighed, turning her back to the dojo entrance.   
  
"Sure you're okay, Botan?" Keiko asked faintly. The entire group had stalked slowly for the dark yard yet again, the cool, calming night embracing them...even Kane had ventured away from his sickly father...really, the only people not present were Kurama, Hiei, Yukina, and Kazuma.   
  
"Yes I'm fine!" the bluette pressured specifically to the 'yes'.  
  
"Well that's good..." Yusuke half-smirked. "...now if only Kuwabara could be healed..."  
  
Kane stood alone...separate...locking his onyx glare upwards and saturating his vision to the beauty of the night. A wind brushed through his spiked mane and rolled the streaming ribbons of his headband. Gakilei was hurt at how distant and aloof he was making himself to be.  
  
"...Kane?" she dared venture to his side...a husked grunt sounded in the core of his throat as he eased his vision downwards to the Detective.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"...are you, okay...?" she asked cautiously. Her friend, smiled softly, then allowed his shoulders to bob upwards.   
  
"Been better."  
  
"...oh..."  
  
"But..." he continued awkwardly, but his expression lacked in falter.   
  
"...yeah...?" she blinked up at him, her chocolate eyes wide and hopeful.  
  
"...I'm kinda...tired..." he breathed softly. "...I'm...actually...very...very tired..." he ended with a soft breath before easing to a sit, and allowing his torso to collapse to the ground...his form meshed against the soft grass, and his eyes dimmed of focus as he stared thoughtlessly to the spanning void of midnight above...until he pricked. He felt a sensation nuzzle against him...Kane jerked to his left, and saw Gakilei, lying against him.  
  
"Ditto, big guy..." she smiled calmly...almost of the cusp of sadly. She focused to the sky, almost ignoring the obvious redness streaking her companion's face.   
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
A sigh pulsed her form, a breeze rolled through her ruby mane. Pink eyes locked to the small garden pond, the crystalline waters rippled smoothly and sensually. Ai leaned to the little bridge, locked in thought. Worry and fatigue had racked her mind, but her face was just as lovely as ever. The winds sighed about her beautiful form, and the scent of roses haunted solemnly about her. She pricked slightly, then eased back into normality. "Yes, Yukio?"  
  
The brunette stalked to her side, and he too leaned to the bridge. "You seemed a bit...loner, today, Ai."  
  
"Loner, ne?" she half-smirked tiredly. "Well, I must apologize for breaking from the group."  
  
"And for lying?" his eyebrow quirked upwards. She matched his expression, then smiled calmly.   
  
"And for lying."  
  
"We forgive you, Ai," he smiled softly, locking caramel to the pond below.  
  
"You speak for the group as a whole, then?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"I see..." she chuckled smoothly, then smiled calmly and quietly to the glossy pond.   
  
"So..." he breathed, clicking his tongue to his cheek. "You okay?"  
  
"Fine," she sighed...her tail flicked against the air, and brushed to her thigh. Yukio turned to watch her tail intently, a sheer interest in it's graceful motions.   
  
"What motivates you to stare at my tail, Yukio?" she asked lowly without a jerk towards him, slight offense and annoyance to her smooth voice. Yukio twinged slightly, then a redness streaked over the slope of his nose.  
  
"...sorry, Ai..." he coughed awkwardly, leaning to the bridge again, but casting his eyes for the opposite direction.   
  
The she-fox chuckled slightly, and eyed her nervous companion with a soft, half-narrowed expression of a dare. "Yukio..."  
  
"Erm...yes...?" he pricked, slowly blinking to face her.   
  
"...why are you uncomfortable?"  
  
"...you got mad at me..." he answered cautiously...the red-head pulsed slightly in calm snickers.  
  
"Well, it was disrespectful to stare at my tail, Yukio..."  
  
"...I'm sorry..." silence. The two gazed to the wavy mirror below, which sent back their identical selves...Yukio couldn't help but take note at Ai's beauty, her delicate figure...he stared at her reflection subconsciously.   
  
She sensed his aura go rigid in awkwardness, and she couldn't help but smirk calmly.   
  
She too eyed his, and found his caramel eyes to be too focused to the glossy waters. She smiled sensually, then, Yukio eyed her reflection in amazement...for in the glossy, crystalline waters, he saw her lean in towards him, and with her soft, long hand cupping to his chin, he felt her lips press against his cheek...she then eased away, and walked off for another end of the Kuwabara property...Yukio felt his nose singe scarlet and his eyes freeze wide...was what her reflection did what honestly happened? He felt numb all over...the beautiful Miss Minamino...had just kissed him.  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
"What are we going to do about this?" Kurama had to lean to a tree to keep himself from collapsing.  
  
"...well, we can't depend on Kuwabara...in his condition it's hard to say if he'll even survive." Hiei pulsed in a tired, scared sigh. He tucked his hands to his pockets and stood firmly. Ryooki had calmed considerably, and now sat Indian style to the ground, glaring emerald daggers.   
  
"...enough to make a beast cry..." Hiei whispered to himself.  
  
"We'll have to fight...we have to stop Grapko from killing again!" Kurama bashed his gnarled fist against the tree...instantly slicing through it. Hiei and Ryooki didn't flinch in the slightest as the massive tree collapsed for the ground.  
  
"...that's not all, Yoko..." Ryooki's deep voice throbbed. Kurama and Hiei pricked, jerking to face the fox-wolf with widened eyes.  
  
"What's not all?! You mean to say he's done even more to you?!" Kurama asked in fear.  
  
"...the remainder of what he has done...will affect you, too..."  
  
"Hn?" Hiei grunted in voice of Kurama's confusion.  
  
"We have to leave...right now...to the Demon World..." Ryooki tensed a tight blink.  
  
"Now...?" Kurama inquired slowly. "...but...we've allies to retrieve, ones that could assist us dramatically-"  
  
"We have to leave as soon as possible!" Ryooki grunted harshly, Hiei and Kurama pricking. "I know it's all a plan to lure us both to his midst, but I don't care! The two of us must save her!"   
  
"...her?" Hiei eyed the hybrid suspiciously. "I thought all the 'hers' in your life were slain..."  
  
"...I wasn't speaking of my mate and mother..." Ryooki let escape a rolling sigh. "...I was speaking of...our half sister."  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
*hallway, Anemone's doorway to the left*  
  
Anneliese and Ellen: AHHH! *come running out into the hallway, Ellen shooting at Hiei with her paint ball gun as Hiei tries to run out at them*  
  
Anneliese: dammit Ellen! Why did you have to tell him that you were the Supreme Master of the Universe?! Now he's gonna kill us!!  
  
Ellen: *bang* well *bang* I *bang* didn't *bang* think * bang* he *bang* would *bang* take *bang* it *bang* so *bang* damn *bang* badly!! *bang bang*   
  
Anneliese: UGH! Where are Kurama and Anemone?!?!   
  
*Somewhere a mile away*  
  
Anemone and Kurama: AHHH!!!! *running as yet ANOTHER Suichi-Kun fangirl mob runs after them...they manage to corner Anemone and Kurama in an alleyway*  
  
Fangirls: WHO THE HELL IS SHE, SUICHI?!?!  
  
Kurama: er...my girlfriend?   
  
Fangirls: WHAT!!??!!??  
  
Kurama: oh no... *grabs Anemone's waist and pulls out his whip...cracks it in the air, winds it around a fire escape ladder, and swings over the fangirl mob as they pounce for where he once stood...lands in the street, jerks back his whip, replaces it in his hair, and, grabbing Anemone's wrist, runs like hell*   
  
Anemone: damn! How do you cope with these mobs?!?!  
  
Kurama: therapy! RUN!  
  
*the house*   
  
Anneliese and Ellen: AHHHHH!!! *mini darkness dragons are being thrown at them...the run through the halls and various rooms dodging and throwing stuff in the blasts' ways*  
  
Hiei: MUAHAHA! I LIKE THIS POWER, WHATEVER THE HELL IT IS!  
  
Anneliese: oh shit! If he can tap into his powers without even knowing what they are, imagine the casualties!!  
  
Ellen: WAAA!! KURAMA! COOOOOOOOOOOOOME BAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!  
  
Anneliese and Ellen: *hugging each other in fear in a corner as Hiei approaches* WE'RE GONNA DIE!  
  
*the street*  
  
Anemone: HOLY CRAP! THEY'RE COMING BACK!!!   
  
Kurama: Look! It's the house! It should be safe in there!!  
  
*the house*  
  
Anneliese and Ellen: AHHH!! *Hiei whips out his Katana*  
  
Hiei: damn my instincts rock!! I didn't even know I had a sword!  
  
Anneliese: ...Katana...  
  
Hiei: hn?  
  
Ellen: ...it's not a sword it's a Katana...  
  
Hiei: do I look like I care?! *about to strike at them*  
  
Kurama and Anemone: *pound into the room, notices Hiei about to attack Anneliese and Ellen*  
  
Ellen: SAVE ME!!! *shoves Anneliese to the side* HE'S GONNA KILL ME!!  
  
Anneliese: *sweatdrop, vein-popping glare* ELLEN!!  
  
Kurama: *thinking fast, sees the Magic 8 Ball, and decks it at Hiei*  
  
Hiei: *hit in the head with the 8 Ball, collapses unconscious, the evil 8 Ball is destroyed on contact with his hard skull*  
  
Anneliese and Ellen: O_O ...YAY!!!  
  
Anemone: phew...*looks out window* OH CRAP! The mob!!  
  
Kurama: GAH!! *grabs Hiei and hides*   
  
Fangirl Mob: *bursts in, sends Anemone flying into Anneliese, Ellen just out of the way, Anneliese and Anemone now sprawled on the floor*  
  
Ellen: O_O; uh...hi?  
  
Fangirl: *notices Anemone* IT'S SUICHI'S GIRLFRIEND!!  
  
Mob: GET HER!!  
  
Ellen and Anneliese: *Anneliese is still on the floor with Anemone on top* huh?  
  
Anemone: oh SHIT! AHH!  
  
Mob: *grabs Anemone and drags her away*   
  
Anemone: KURAMA!!!!  
  
Kurama: oh no! Mones! *comes out from his hiding place, but the mob is already gone*  
  
Ellen: *decks Kurama upside the head* now look what you and your sexuality did!!  
  
Kurama: *looks at the floor in shame*   
  
Hiei: *slowly waking up* ...*gurgle-gurgle*...Anneliese...?  
  
Anneliese: O_O Hiei?!  
  
Hiei: *growl* OW!! My head!!   
  
Anneliese: aww!! Poor baby!! *sits down next to Hiei and starts massaging his throbbing head*  
  
Ellen: yay! Hiei has his memory back! Now everything's back to normal.  
  
Kurama: ?! But, Mones has been kidnaped!  
  
Ellen: ...well there's still THAT, but I was talking about demon-wise...  
  
Kurama: UGH! I'm calling Mirai Trunks...maybe he can help me find her...  
  
Hiei: where's Mones?  
  
Anneliese: she got kidnaped because KURAMA's stupid sexuality triggered another mob...  
  
Hiei: *heavy annoyed sigh, then blinks to himself* well...those mob are okay for some things...  
  
Anneliese: nani? *the slope of his nose slowly starts to blush as he stares in the opposite direction*  
  
Ellen: AWW!! How cute!!  
  
Anneliese: ?  
  
Ellen: it was because of a Suichi-Kun Fangirl Mob that you two met! AWW!!  
  
Hiei: *dangerous glare, blush* I'm getting a weird prickly feeling about you, Ellen...  
  
Ellen: *blinky* heh...  
  
Kurama: *on the phone with Mirai Trunks, pulls it away as Trunks yells*  
  
Mirai Trunks: WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S BEEN KIDNAPED?!?!  
  
Kurama: erm...I mean that she's been kidnaped?  
  
Mirai Trunks: UGH!! C'MON, MEET ME IN THE PARK WE'RE GONNA GO FIND HER!  
  
Kurama: right! *hangs up phone* Hiei?  
  
Hiei: hn. *gets up, puts on cloak, gets ready to go find Anemone...he and Kurama are about to leave*  
  
Anneliese: hey you know what I don't get?  
  
Kurama: what?  
  
Anneliese: if Anemone's not here, then who's writing the ski- 


	10. Vankra

*Anemone's room...Kurama, Hiei, and Mirai Trunks walk in after failing to find Anemone...Kurama looks a little bit ashamed, Mirai Trunks looks very frustrated, and Hiei's just kind of there...Hiei turns to Anneliese*  
  
Hiei: Onna! Corner! now!  
  
Anneliese: Hn...*walks over to the corner* now what?  
  
Hiei: you let me kiss you, Baka...  
  
Anneliese: call me Baka and you're a dead man...  
  
Hiei: *raised eyebrow* just be quiet...  
  
Anneliese: -no! I shouldn't hafta- *Hiei shuts her up by frenching her*  
  
Mirai Trunks, Kurama, and Ellen: O_O;;  
  
Hiei: *pulls away* is that ALL you've got?!  
  
Anneliese: *glare* hell no, Midget! *jumps at him, they collapse making out*  
  
Hiei: *pulls away* ...you're just as tall as me...  
  
Anneliese: shut up...!  
  
Mirai Trunks, Kurama, and Ellen: O_O;;;  
  
Ellen: *tips head to the side as she watches* they have a weird love- hate relationship...  
  
Hiei: *pulls back slightly* ...hn...this is HARDLY worth my time bakayaro...  
  
Anneliese: *pissy glare* you're SUCH a bastard, Hiei! *Hiei frenches her*  
  
Mirai Trunks: ...are they loving or hating right now...?  
  
Hiei: ...THERE we go!!! *frenches her again*  
  
Kurama and Ellen: *pause, blink, shrug*  
  
*Computer dings...of course Hiei and Anneliese ignore it...but the other three turn to investigate*  
  
Kurama: *gasp* It's an instant message from Mones!  
Hiei: *mumbles through Anneliese's mouth*  
  
Kurama: ...?  
  
Hiei: *pulls away* I said...answer it baka......*turns to Anneliese* you're losing it...  
  
Anneliese: ...as if YOU had it...*pause, glaring at each other, they both french each other at the exact same time*  
  
Ellen: *inches away, bumps into Mirai Trunks*  
  
Mirai Trunks: *rolls eyes, escorts her to his other side* what does the instant message say, Kurama?  
  
Kurama: *signing in his screen name RedFox15* let's see...*the pop-up window is now readable*  
  
ReviewDammit89: KURAMA!  
  
RedFox15: Mones! Are you alright?!  
  
ReviewDammit89: no i'm not alrite!  
  
RedFox15: Oh my God Mones I am so sorry! Have they harmed you in any way?!  
  
ReviewDammit89: well YEA theyve harmed me they think im ur gf but thats not y i'm mad!  
  
RedFox15: ...then...why are you mad...?!  
  
ReviewDammit89: check out the sn kurama...  
  
RedFox15: Your LIFE is at stake and you care about Reviews?! Mones!!  
  
ReviewDammit89: put MT on...  
  
RedFox15: why?  
  
ReviewDammit89: I'M MAD @ U!!1  
  
RedFox15: *twiddles fingers sheepishly* well, alright, if you're truly irritated with me...  
  
RedFox15 has signed off.  
  
Kurama: *turns to Mirai Trunks* go ahead, sign on.  
  
Mirai Trunks: *types into the keyboard, pulling up his screen name SworDBeaRer90*  
  
SworDBeaRer90: mones? you there?  
  
ReviewDammit89: Mirai! SAVE ME! the Suichi-cult is INSANE!!!11  
  
SworDBeaRer90: wut have they done to you?!  
  
ReviewDammit89: they hav me frickin' chained to a frickin' WALL!!1  
  
SworDBeaRer90: omg are you serious?! Those wretches! don't worry, mones ill save you!  
  
Hiei: WHOA! Holy shit you're a good ki-*cut off by a frencher*  
  
Mirai Trunks, Kurama, and Ellen: -_-;;;  
  
Ellen: okay this is getting VERY wrong...*then the scene gets a little 'too' intense*  
  
Kurama: O_O;; *shields Ellen's eyes*  
  
Mirai Trunks: *blush* ahem...  
  
SworDBeaRer90: okay mones can you tell me where you are?  
  
ReviewDammit89: first can you tell anneliese and hiei to tone it WAY down?! Jeez i can feel ur awkward blushing from here!  
  
Mirai Trunks: *blinks at the screen*  
  
SworDBeaRer90: ...?  
  
ReviewDammit89: when i'm wicked pissd i can feel weird-ass things...  
  
SworDBeaRer90:: ...ok...?  
  
ReviewDammit89: SAVE ME!!  
  
SworDBeaRer90: please tell me where u are, i can't help u until i know where to look, love!  
  
ReviewDammit89: *sniffles* im in a cave...  
  
SworDBeaRer90: umm...ok that's a little too vague, mones...  
  
ReviewDammit89: uh...im near the gas station...like half a mile from it...i can see it from here...  
SworDBeaRer90: there's a cave near the gas station...?  
  
ReviewDammit89: YES DUM-DUM!  
  
SworDBeaRer90: uh...ok...at least now i have a destination...alright mones hang tight, k? tty soon  
  
ReviewDammit89: DON'T LEAVE ME!!  
  
SworDBeaRer90: ...but...i have to go save you...  
  
ReviewDammit89: but! im all chained up and i like CANT get free!  
  
SworDBeaRer90: ...then...how're u online...?  
  
ReviewDammit89: they chained my legs to the wall, not my arms...but they chained my wristss together so its a bitch to type...  
  
Hiei: *cracks neck* hahaha...you've kissed better...  
  
Anneliese: so have you...!  
  
Hiei: ooh...nice, a little bit of spark...  
  
Anneliese: shut up and kiss, Dumbass...  
  
Hiei: HN! With THAT type of insulting I'd nev-*cut off again by a frencher, goes with it*  
  
Kurama: dear LORD have neither of you an once of decency?! *still shielding Ellen's eyes*  
  
Ellen: huh? What are they doing?  
  
Kurama: erm...nothing...  
  
SworDBeaRer90: wait hold on where'd u get access to a comp?!  
  
ReviewDammit89: its my laptop...it fell out of my bag and skid JUST beyond my reach and it took me a damned three hours to get it, turn it on and get online!!  
  
SworDBeaRer90: my dear lord! Don't worry, mones, I'm coming! hold on!  
  
ReviewDammit89: *sniffle* ok...  
  
SworDBeaRer90 has signed off.  
  
Mirai Trunks: *grabs Kurama by the arm* c'mon! Let's go!  
  
Kurama: *who had been shielding Ellen's eyes from the ghastly Hiei- Anneliese session* -wh!- *dragged away from Ellen*  
  
Ellen: *sees Hiei and Anneliese who are STILL going at it* AH! EW! *runs after Mirai Trunks and Kurama*  
  
Hiei: *after ten minutes, pulls away* huh? *blink, accidentally throws Anneliese off him as he whips up* Holy crap where'd they go?! Why aren't they online with Onna?!  
  
Anneliese: *growl* HIEI!  
  
Hiei: what Onna?  
  
Anneliese: *decks him upside the head* dumbass...*walks out to follow Mirai Trunks and the others*  
  
Hiei: HN! Fine! See if I ever let you kiss me again! HN! *stands glaring at nothing for ten minutes...growls, runs after her* LIESE! WAIT! Stop walking! I command you!! *long pause, she keeps walking* Okay FINE! I'm...*pause, growl* srey! Is that how you pronounce it?! Wait...no it's...sarry? Yeah that's it...sarry...I'M SARRY!! *blurs after her and the others* DAMN YOU ALL!  
  
Ellen: *pops back into the room at the confused readers* oh yeah...Mones had written the next chapter in advance before she got kidnaped...go read...bye! *runs after others*  
  
Chapter 11: Vankra  
  
"...you have...a half sister...?" Hiei asked carefully in surprise, eyeing the solemn Ryooki with a strange expression. He blinked to himself, trying to figure out any relations and any time yet another sibling could have possibly fit into the fray.  
  
"...Vankra..." Kurama's lips parted subconsciously as his whispered voice escaped. Hiei grunted slightly, throwing a half-confused glare to his partner.  
  
"...Vankra?" the Dragon grunted faintly. "That's her name? Odd...I've never known animal breeds to possess that type of name...it's reserved for- "  
  
"-ice breeds." Kurama cut the flame Koorime off, Hiei's glare narrowing in sync to the sincerity of his partner's voice.  
  
"Hn..." Hiei grunted in the core of his throat, drawing his eyes closed. "...why was a forest demon given the name of an element race of apparition?"  
  
"...because she was raised by one." Ryooki's deep, pulsing voice boomed gently, his tormented eyes shut and his expression almost forced calm.  
  
"...? Elaborate for his vagueness, Kitsune..." Hiei grunted for Kurama's answer...but even Kurama seemed a little on the hazy tip ofthe scale with his half-sister's role.  
  
"...I only remember...few things of her..." he breathed cautiously.  
  
"...meaning?" the Dragon half-roared in annoyance and his trademark impatience.  
  
"...well..." Kurama curled his fingers to his chin as he drew away in thought. "...Grapko had cheated on Mother..." his voice seemed to waver and chaffe at mention to the gentle Jiaanti...but he almost instantly clicked back to reality, and Hiei's piercing glare. "...with, a Wolf demonness...and together they had but one pup, a female..."  
  
"...I see..." Hiei calculated the scenario to himself.  
  
"Yes...I was already two hundred when she was born...Ryooki about my age, give or take half a century..."  
  
"Continue." the Dragon snorted for details.  
  
"...well...Grapko slew the she-wolf...and in fear for our infant sister's life, we smuggled her from Mount Shiverku...and..." a pause as the humanoid strained to tap into his Yoko memories. "...it was so long ago, and in my other form...I can barely remember the rest."  
  
"Hn..." Hiei's glare sharpened viciously, flame glints sharpened against the corrosive ruby of his eyes.  
  
"Forgive me, Hiei...but it was a good hundred-fifty years ago, and even my most recent Yoko memories abandon me..."  
  
"You...speak..." the Dragon growled to Kurama's brother, Ryooki shooting a narrow glare over his shoulder at the forward flame Koorime.  
  
"...what is your immense interest in Vankra's life, Dragon?" Ryooki dared, his left ear flicking against his scalp.  
  
"...Hiei is a mutant ice breed..." Kurama managed to smirk tiredly...Hiei shot a dangerous glare at his partner for his smug choice of words...  
  
"Ah...and he wishes to know what clan we left her to?" Ryooki sighed a rolling sigh, and managed to quirk his lips ina slight grin. "Well...Yoko and I had taken her from group to group, of various breeds...but all feared for their lives if Grapko was ever to pursue the then nameless infant...but, a single clan saw in her worth, and they took her in...they gave her the rarest name of their breed...Vankra, which means 'the crystalline eyes.'"  
  
"...Hn..." Hiei grunted a slight smirk...an ice clan would take in a wolf, but not a flame Koorime who was offspring to two clan members? Peculiar...what a lucky infant she must have been.  
  
"...but, recently Grapko found her...he dragged her back to Mount Shiverku, tearing her from her mate and child!"  
  
"...she's a mate?!" Kurama blinked in surprise. "...and a child?!"  
  
"Vankra's daughter, being a half-breed between wolf and element, aged in human standards...she's now seventeen, equal in age to your Ai..." Ryooki sighed slowly. "...and neither Vankra's mate nor daughter are taking her kidnaping lightly."  
  
"I'd hope not..." Kurama ended sternly. "...Grapko kidnaped our sister? A trap to drag us back to the demon world..."  
  
"Hn..." Hiei grunted in agreement, then allowed a low, murderous smirk tighten about his lips. "...he can't let shit go, can he?"  
  
"Apparently not..." Kurama sighed in embarrassment of his genealogy, weaving his arms loosely about his chest. "...he STILL holds it against me that I became human?"  
  
Ryooki, who had by now managed to ease to a stable, looming stand, grunted slightly as he nodded. "...and he still blames Hiei for forbidding him of his crush merely by birth...and he now blames me as a traitor for helping you."  
  
"Damn...this guy needs a hobby..." a scoff was heard from just beyond the immediate group...the three blinked up, only to be met with the smirking, ready, and pumped Yusuke, arms folded and a grin of sheer excitement about his calm face. "...what are you all staring at?! Yeesh we gonna go kill this thing or what?!"  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
Botan reached towards Kuwabara's sweating brow, stroking away the excess gloss of a sheen that soaked his temples. She spread a dampened towel over his tense forehead, the warm water easing smooth over his taut expression of pain. She drew her hands in a knot to her lap, overlooking the red-head with sad eyes.  
  
"Oh, Kuwabara...how could you do this to Yukina?" she scolded in sorrow and worry, shifting in a weighed sigh and tucking a lock of sapphire behind an ear. "And Kane too, you blasted, egotistical...!" she couldn't bear to hear herself grunt bitter words at the sight of the pained man. "...very, very brave hero..."  
  
He had known the risks of fighting. He had known his heart's bitter, wavering condition. And he had known...in his heart of hearts, in the core of his instincts...to kill all those who threatened the lives of his wife and son. He knew he could die in the process...but their lives, their happiness...meant more to him than anything in the cosmos.  
  
Kuwabara pulsed in heavy breaths, his chest jerking in uneven spasms. He quivered in pain, and would ease into motionless slumber for a time, before tensing yet again...his shifts in sleep, from light to heavy, either tightened or loosened the pain he felt...his heart was bruised and was merely starting to pump in normality.  
  
After a time Botan sighed gravely to herself, and stalked slowly from the dark room. She slipped from the velvet shadows into the silvery yard...where she found some innocent sights to calm her frazzled spirit.  
  
Keiko, Yukina, and Hinegeshi were to the farthest end of the garden, sipping green tea and conversing quietly. Keiko and Hinegeshi strained to be careful with the topics they edged into conversation, avoiding Kuwabara entirely...Yukina would smile meekly, and sip her tea with little motions. Her eyes were downcast as she sighed calmly, an air of attempted tolerance about her.  
  
Botan smiled gently, then shifted her raspberry glare for yet another end of the Kuwabara abode...apparently she was the only to notice...Kane and Gakilei. The two were fast asleep, Kane sprawled out semi-comically, half-snoring softly. Gakilei was nestled against him, and she too was in a funny position, her head rested to his chest and her arms and legs spread randomly. Botan giggled in her trademark cat-like innocence...then sifted to another segregated twosome.  
  
Kisho lay to the slanted roof of the dojo which lay separately from the house. His left knee bent and his arms tucked under his head, he seemed just as lazy as he was signature for. His spiked sapphire hair jut just as randomly as the norm, and his deep, thoughtful emerald eyes mirrored Kurama's in every way...even in the sincerity of inner plight. They shot for the sky, and he seemed hermit in his thoughts.  
  
Botan smiled gently, and noticed the morbid she-Hiei just behind Kisho, standing to the very top of the dojo roof...they seemed to ignore each other...and yet...they didn't. Neither allowed their lips to part in speech...but they both seemed...tolerant, even dependant, on the other's presence. Ryuuhayai's normally tensed and rigid body was loose...and it was only so when she was around the wolf-tailed bluette. Kisho was relaxed even more so than usual...and he was smiling somewhat.  
  
Botan sighed slightly, and felt her lips curve in a mischievous grin. 'they seem so...perfect...when they're together...what he lacks she has, and vice versa...they just mesh...' Botan felt a motherly smirk twinge to the corner of her mouth, and she jerked in stifled giggles. 'Kisho you smooth little lady's man...just like your father...'  
  
Her thoughts drifted smoothly to Kurama...his smile...his warm presence...he was too perfect...far too perfect to be hers. His eyes were filled to the brim with complexity and soul, they were saturated in pain and grief...and they were drowned in love, whenever they locked onto her.  
  
Often she'd second guess what life would have been if he hadn't fallen in love with her...where would she be? Could she have lived, with her heart aching for him? And she'd sigh, and allow a dreamy smile to curl her lips.  
  
He did love her...he loved her with all his heart, all his soul. His smile was brilliant...his eyes were cosmic...he was beauty, he was grace and stealth...did he really choose her?  
  
Nightly, before she'd fall asleep, he'd nestle against her, and curl his strong arms about her slim waist. He'd smile lovingly, and coo in her ear, in a single, nostalgic breath, "Aishiteru, Botan...and I will until beyond the grave."  
  
Botan nearly collapsed in a dreamy state, smiling rather foolishly. Her eyes sagged in her subconscious antics, and her grin was drunk with emotion and yearning for her husband...her sweet, loving, romantic mate.  
  
She then clicked to reality, and, after blinking slightly, chuckled meekly to herself in embarrassment...luckily, none of her companions had noticed her nearly drop to the veranda floor in her girlish thoughts. She quickly quieted herself, allowing her slender nose to singe in scarlet. 'Botan you baka...! Don't be so milky-minded!'  
  
She then pricked slightly, having noticed something rather interesting...Ai sat to a rock, gazing upwards in the velvet navy sky...beside her sat Yukio, eyeing the sky in sync with her calmness and serenity...the odd thing of this was...they were holding hands, Yukio's long fingers tied with Ai's, and nestled in her lap.  
  
Botan smiled excitedly, drawing a cheery gasp and stifling a giggle. 'Lovebirds!' she thought happily, instantly throwing her glare for Kisho and Ryuuhayai, and in turn to Kane and Gakilei. 'all of them! OOH!' she bit to her lip in joy. 'Kurama and the others are going to be SO happy!'  
  
She cast her excited glare for Ai and Yukio. 'I'm going to be related to Keiko! And Yusuke!'  
  
She then twisted excitedly for Kisho and Ryuuhayai. 'How funny! Now Kurama and Hiei will be in-laws!'  
  
And she then jerked for Kane and Gakilei. 'OH! Yusuke and Kuwabara! How cute their children would join the two rivals!'  
  
Botan giggled despite herself, clapping her hands together in joy. 'How lovely! I can't WAIT for grandchildren!! Oh Kurama...' she smiled calmly, her gaze softening. '...you'll be a grandfather...how thrilling!'  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
"What?" Yusuke shrugged at the demons casually, their vibrant glares pinning rigidly against him.  
  
"How long have YOU been here...?" Ryooki asked narrowly.  
  
"Oh is my presence a bother?" Yusuke growled, then faked a hurt tremble. "my emotions...they're shot..."  
  
"Yusuke!" Kurama grunted sternly. "You should be back with the others! It's bad enough Hiei followed after me, but YOU'RE the last line of defence come any danger to our families!"  
  
"Uh, Kurama? Seriously, you're getting WAY too paranoid for me to stomach!" Yusuke barked. "Yeesh! Normal parents brag about how great their kid is...you can't seem to stand the thought of yours being labled as strong!"  
  
"That is not so!" Kurama half-gaped. "I know well how powerful Ai and Kisho are!"  
  
"Then why did you say I was the last line of defence?" the Detective countered smugly. Kurama paused in thought, then growled bitterly in defeat...his morbid partner merely chuckled.  
  
"Finally!" Hiei smirked. "A shred of sense has been threaded into that swollen head of yours."  
  
"Stifle yourself Hiei..." the red-head threatened thinly, his patience withered and his expression on the cusp of murderous. Ryooki blinked to his younger brother, then pulsed in a sigh, shifting his footing to stalk from the three.  
  
"...Ryooki...?" Kurama quickly jerked from his argument to face the loner fox-wolf...Ryooki paused briefly, then, casting a thin smirk over his shoulder, began on his way again.  
  
"We'd better get going if we want to make it to the Demon World before another troop of Hell's Shadows are spread around this dimension, Yoko..." he breathed faintly through a frame of a narrow, tired smirk. Kurama, Hiei, and Yusuke stared blankly after him as he trudged away calmly, the entire casing of mist around him thickening with his dramatic leave. Kurama blinked to reality, and, easing his long hands to his pockets, followed after his brother in taut silence.  
  
A blink of ruby and a blink of chocolate...shifted side-glances between Dragon and Detective, the shorter of the two grunting and starting off after his partner.  
  
Yusuke followed each with his nimble glare, taking note of Kurama's rigid tail, the hair to the tip standing on end. *a/n: damn I keep forgetting he has one lol* It swished violently against his leg, jerking in mad, random sways. 'Kurama's...scared...?!" the Detective gaped inwardly, blinking at the red-head's calm countenance. Kurama had an air about him...one that made those around him feel...confident...as if, merely his presence, will ensure victory...but, if even his trademark expression was betrayed now by his newly-spawned tail, imagine the countless times he feared for his life and the lives of his loved ones, but never allowed it to seep through...  
  
'Damn, Kurama...' Yusuke thought gently, a half-crude smirk tweaking to his lips. '...you had me fooled that you weren't...you're one good, loyal actor.'  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
*Random cave a half-mile from the gas station...Mirai Trunks has his sword, Kurama's guarding Ellen out of courtesy, and Hiei and Anneliese are shoving at each other and mumbling negatively trying to fit in through the little entrance...they're pinned back to back with each other*  
  
Hiei: dammit Onna move!  
  
Anneliese: you move, Baka!  
  
Ellen: *whispers to Mirai Trunks* NOW they're hating.  
  
Mirai Trunks: *grunt, rolls eyes, scans through the cave* hmm...where is she...?  
  
Kurama: *about to follow Mirai Trunks and Ellen into the cave, but realizes Hiei and Anneliese are still stuck* erm...keep watch. *follows after the others*  
  
Hiei: WHAT?! *wriggles insanely in anger* I NEVER keep watch, Kitsune! I ALWAYS head the attack!! *accidentally elbows Anneliese in the back, she gapes in pain, then glares murder-daggers at him and elbows him between the shoulder blades...he rams against the wall and, hitting his head, is rendered unconscious*  
  
Anneliese: O_O;...oops...  
  
*in the cave*  
  
Mirai Trunks: Kurama, you should be careful...there's probably a Suichi cult in here...  
  
Ellen: aren't you worried about a Mirai Trunks cult? I mean, you're a pretty boy too...*MT looks at her strangely, then blushes slightly*  
  
Mirai Trunks: *cough* hem...well...uh...thank you, Ellen...I think...?...  
  
Kurama: alright we'd best keep our guard up...*turns to Ellen* are you okay...?  
  
Ellen: of course I am!  
  
Kurama: *rolls eyes* ...you're not going to get paranoid on me, are you...?  
  
Ellen: what? Of course not silly!  
  
Kurama: *eyes her cautiously* alriiight...  
  
*drip*  
  
Ellen: *jumps on Kurama's back* -what was that?!?  
  
Kurama: *looks over his shoulder at her* ...?  
  
*drip*  
  
Ellen: AHH!! *winds her arms around Kurama's neck and face, he loses balance and can't see...he trips and they both collapse*  
  
Mirai Trunks: *completely ignoring them...gasp* I can sense her ki! It's faint but...jagged...she's far away...and angry...*runs into the darkness of the cave* Mones!  
  
Kurama: *struggling to get up...Ellen's holding onto him as if for dear life* Ellen! It's just water dripping! Please let go!!  
  
*Far in the cave*  
  
Anemone: *ankles shackled and chained to the wall, hands bound together in front of her by the wrists with rope...glaring at nothing in particular, negative antisemitic mumbles* stupid Kurama...*mumble*...stupid Hiei...*mumble*...stupid damned amnesia...*mumble*...stupid ice cream...  
  
Fangirl: *keeping guard, goes to give Mones her dish of food...sets the cold gray plate of mush at Mones's feet*  
  
Anemone: what the hell is this crap?!  
  
Fangirl: *glare* Our best chefs made this!  
  
Anemone: *blink, blinks at the food, -_-;...pricks, smirks* Suichi's cooking is better...  
  
Fangirl: O_O Suichi's?! Suichi has COOKED for you?!  
  
Anemone: hell yeah! ALL the time! *still smirking evilly*  
  
Fangirl: You're, you're LYING! *trying not to cry*  
  
Anemone: *smirk, pricks, looks just beyond the Fangirl's shoulder* *fake gasp, REALLY fake sounding*...Suichi? Is that you?  
  
Fangirl: *whips around* SUICHI?! *gets decked upside the head by Anemone's bound wrists...gapes in pain, numb, gets kneed by Anemone in the stomach...Anemone then bashes her tied wrists against the Fangirl's face a couple times, and the Fangirl is rendered unconscious*  
  
Anemone: MUAHAHAHA! I AM A GENIUS! DESPITE THE WHIPPINGS, BURN MARKS, ATTEMPTS TO SUFFOCATE ME WITH A PLASTIC BAG AND CUTS DUSTED WITH SALT FOR TORTURE, I'VE, STILL, GOT IT! HELL YEAH! MUAHAHAHA! *mood swing from victorious to pissy and dangerously low sounding* ...now to get free and totally get back at Kurama for letting me get kidnaped...!  
  
Mirai Trunks: *runs into the scene, having followed Anemone's evil laughter* Mones?  
  
Anemone: *goes from evil looking to innocent and confused* *shifty eyes* er...hi honey!  
  
Mirai Trunks: *about to go to her, sees the bruising knocked-out Fangirl sprawled out on the floor* ...?  
  
Anemone: oh, her? Uh...she came like that...  
  
Mirai Trunks: -_-;;  
  
Anemone: *shifty eyes* what?  
  
Mirai Trunks: *sigh...steps over the bloody pulp that was once a semi- good-looking Fangirl, draws sword, and cuts through the binds at her wrists and the shackles at her ankles*  
  
Anemone: SWEET! Freedom!!  
  
Mirai Trunks: are you alright, Mones?  
  
Anemone: *plants one on his cheek* I am now!! *he blushes and smiles*  
  
Mirai Trunks: *picks her up* Now to find the others. *about to sprint back where he had entered from*  
  
Anemone: WAIT! I NEED MY LAPTOP AND BUTTERFLY NET!  
  
Mirai Trunks: ...you mean...you don't, have them with you...?  
  
Anemone: *negative glare at nothing in particular* ...'THEY' stole them...  
  
Mirai Trunks: how did 'they' find out about your net and laptop?  
  
Anemone: ...*avoiding his gaze*...  
  
Mirai Trunks: ...Mones...?  
  
Ellen: *bounces out of nowhere right between them*  
  
Mirai Trunks and Anemone: -AH!!-  
  
Ellen: -I bet she was playing a game on it and they caught her and she had her butterfly net out or something along those lines!  
  
Mirai Trunks: *LONG pause, blink* ...where did you come from, Ellen...?!  
  
Kurama: *heard in the distance* Ellen? Mirai Trunks!! Where are you?! Hello...?! It's not safe to be alone!!  
  
Ellen: *calls out at him* oh like it's safe to be with you when there's a Suichi cult looming around?!  
  
Anemone: *jumps out of Mirai Trunks's arms, sounds happy* KURAMA!!  
  
Kurama: *comes into view, smiles in relief* Mones!  
  
Anemone: *runs over to him, looks like she's going to glomp him*  
  
Kurama: *chuckling, ready to be glomped*  
  
Anemone: *almost in his arms, suddenly gets a pissed off expression, and decks him downside the head*  
  
Kurama: MPF!! *collapses into the floor*  
  
Mirai Trunks and Ellen: O_O;;  
  
Kurama: *really cute expression of betrayal as he rubs his head* wh...what did I do...?!  
  
Anemone: you let yourself be sexy, that's what!!  
  
Mirai Trunks: *blush* MONES!  
  
Anemone: if it wasn't for the fact that you're a hottie, there wouldn't be a cult after my BLOOD!  
  
Kurama: *stands up* are you alright, Mones?  
  
Anemone: *glares at him* I don't hit you unless it's either the time of the month, I was aiming for Hiei and missed, or I'm hurt because of you...WHICH OF THOSE THREE DO YOU THINK IT WAS?!  
  
Kurama: *sheepish expression* I'm sorry Mones...I'll heal those wounds when we get home...  
  
Anemone: you better...*glare, pricks, hears the rampaging of a coming mob* SHIT!  
  
Mirai Trunks: *pricks, grunts faintly, scoops up Anemone and motions for Kurama to help get Ellen out*  
  
Ellen: but I wanna see the freaks! *classic Homer Simpson line*  
  
Kurama: no time! *throws her over his shoulder and bolts after Mirai Trunks*  
  
Ellen: I FEEEL VIOLAAAATEEED!!! *hits him against his back, he winces and fights the urge to just ditch her*  
  
*Kurama and Mirai Trunks manage to escape with Ellen and Anemone...suddenly, a Suichi-cult breaks into the scene, the leader wearing a wig made to look like Kurama's hair and a ceremonial garment with a picture of Kurama on the front*  
  
Leader: *gasp* The prisoner has escaped!!!  
  
Cult: TYA! TYA! *ceremonial grunt of anger and fury*  
  
Leader: *sniffs the air* SUICHI WAS HERE!  
  
Cult: *gasp* SUICHI?!?! SUUUUUIIIIICHIIIII!!!  
  
Leader: we shall find! And we shall conquer!! *totally insane uproar of agreement*  
  
*Home*  
  
Anemone: freakin' messed up bitches...  
  
Kurama: *wrapping a flesh wound on her arm after cleaning the salt out* ...indeed...  
  
Anemone: *turns to Mirai Trunks* they had a sister cult, too...one that focuses on you.  
  
Mirai Trunks: *wide-eyed, slope of his nose blushes...gulp* It may seem rather out of character for me to say, but...I'm rather glad all the teenage boy-crazy girls got blown up by the androids in my time...  
  
Anemone: yeah seriously...  
  
Anneliese and Ellen: *trying to make Hiei come to*  
  
Mirai Trunks: he gets knocked out pretty easily...  
  
Anemone: *reads skit* holy crap! This is savagely long...I'm stopping here-OW!! *Kurama's trying to clean another salty wound*  
  
Kurama: -please hold still, Mones!-*Anemone's trying to run away from the Q-tip of pain, ducks behind Mirai Trunks*  
  
Mirai Trunks: *eye-roll chuckle combo, smiles tiredly...scoops her up, sits to the edge of her bed, gently holds her in his lap so Kurama can clean her wound*  
  
Anemone: *wriggles violently in his hold* TRAITOR!  
  
Mirai Trunks: *Vegeta smirk, frenches her...she gets into it, and Kurama cleans her wounds without her noticing much...Anneliese and Ellen have semi-impressed expressions...Anneliese turns back to the unconscious Hiei, and Ellen, after glancing around to find nothing better to do, shrugs and sighs*  
  
Ellen: okay then I guess I'll say it...GO REVIEW! BYE!  
  
-p.s. = read "Hiei, putt putt, and everyone else" by flameology...seriously folks, it's good...and, to back it up, I'M IN IT! lol...Theresa, ladies and gents...that being my real name...bwahaha...c'mon, read it, please? Ellen and Anneliese have a point in being in my fic you know lol we're practically on a joint account hahaha...just read it, my online buddies are good authors...please?!? *puppy dog eyes* don't make me hold my story hostage! *haha I wish...I don't have enough fans for that to work...* but I will if you don't give theirs a chance! lol...latr! 


	11. The Demon WorldFight or Die

Skipping ahead to the story today...enjoy!   
  
(A/n: just so you know so the entire story can progress...Kurama's wearing khaki's, a teal button down, and a black trench-coat *sweet!!*, Yusuke's wearing jeans a white tee-shirt, Hiei's wearing his normal pants and gray-ish undershirt *no cloak lol* and Ryooki's wearing black pants, a green button-down, and a brown suede jacket, cuz he was trying to look as much as a normal person when in the human world as physically possible...remember, Kurama, Yusuke, and Hiei are supposed to look about forty-five-ish and Ryooki like twenty-ish...lol...okay go!)  
  
Chapter 12: The Demon World...Fight or Die  
  
"Get down!" Ryooki whispered brashly, stabbing his sprawled, open palm over Yusuke's chest and shoving the Detective to the ground. Yusuke stumbled foolishly, Kurama eyeing him strangely and Hiei growling in frustration tuned to match the fox-wolf leading them.  
  
"Get down and STAY down! If you don't they'll see us!" Ryooki snarled through his tightly wedged fangs at the embarrassed Yusuke, who, after a moment of immediate shock, glared chocolate daggers at the annoyed demon.  
  
Shadows wove over the four in dramatic contrasts to the light just beyond their dared reach...Yusuke was pinned to the rugged terrain of the mossy ground with Ryooki's foot to his stomach, the hybrid refusing to ease off until the Detective obeyed his warnings subconsciously. Trees hid them well, and the moss underfoot stifled the wriggling of Yusuke's repeated attempts toward escape from Ryooki's pin.   
  
Kurama would have chuckled at the sight had the situation been anything less than Grapko, but it hardly was so. Hiei's corrosive eyes rolled in frustration, and at Yusuke's bitter words, the flame Koorime bashed his heel against the Detective's head, knocking the breath from his mouth and instantly killing the words almost escaped.   
  
At this Kurama managed to smile meekly, and shake his head, but laughter had yet to take him...Yusuke began on a loud tangent involving swear after swear, but was silenced when Hiei repeated his former action and Ryooki applied all the more pressure to the Detective's stomach, both at the exact same instant and both performed without either demon flashing Yusuke the decency of a glare.   
  
Yusuke wriggled madly but to no avail, and, whimpering pathetically, allowed his head to collapse in defeat. Hiei smirked slightly at having broken the Detective's spirit, and Ryooki sighed in annoyance. Kurama had been smiling gently by this time, the entire scenario rather funny to have witnessed...but he was the first to prick.  
  
"Duck..." he breathed faintly, a blank look thwarting his face, and his eyes wide. He instantly dove for the mossy forest floor, and a shot of fiery redness tore through the air for Hiei's back. The flame Koorime blurred to the ground, beside his partner, and both awaited for Ryooki to do likewise. But he didn't.  
  
Brother of Kurama had grown intense with anger and frustration, and the sight of the energy orb roughened his rage. His bound his palms around it, much to the surprise of both humanoid fox and flame Koorime...they both had subconsciously agreed to fighting in stealth, to hide and attack the foe off guard...but Ryooki played it direct...he was tired of these Hell's Shadows stalking him, and he was going to slay every single one to get in his way.  
  
Ryooki clenched fiercely to the orb, and, with a last jerk, squished it into shreds of stray energy...one of which sprayed onto Yusuke, who was still pinned limply under the hybrid's foot. He roared in pain as the burning ki singed to his face, and he beat at it dramatically. Kurama eyed him with a groan, Hiei growling and rolling his eyes.   
  
"He's showing as much cowardice towards minor physical injury as Kuwabaka!" Hiei hissed. Kurama eyed his partner sternly at the flame Koorime's obvious disrespect, but both nearly instantly pricked at the sense behind them. Two flaming ki orbs shot out of the musky forest air, and their targets were for each one of the partnership. Kurama and Hiei side-glanced narrowly, and, both allowing a breath of a smirk to grip to their lips, they kicked to a stand, and sprinted in opposite directions.  
  
"So much for the silent first attack," Hiei smirked as he rounded the tree masses, sticking to the bowels of the eeriest shadows.   
  
"Well, at least this way is more interesting...he can try to defend," Kurama smirked right back from his distance away from Hiei.   
  
Both ki blasts jerked to follow after their assigned target, Hiei's snaking sharply in random directions around the forest trees, and Kurama's shooting in a near perfect line through, each merely mirroring their mark's movements.  
  
Hiei growled slightly in the farthest depths of his throat after a few moments, having yet to shake his blast off. He kicked off into his trademark leaps, his form no more than a sting of black against reality, and landed nimbly to an aloof tree branch...but his assigned blast simply tore through the air and shot straight for his heart.  
  
Kurama rounded tree after tree, sprightly bowing every so often to subconsciously grasp various herbs and picking at his finds with brilliant finger-work and only a third of his attention...his sprint dimmed not a speck, but he grew gradually frustrated as the blast quickened in sync to his inhuman speed. His trench-coat flapped violently behind him, blacker than black, and he resembled a smear. *BATMAN!!! lol*   
  
And then there was Yusuke...who was still stepped into the dense, mossy earth. He growled angrily and roared in frustration, clawing at Ryooki's leg, but the hybrid was far too busy with tiny ki orbs to even ease off his captive.   
  
Blast after blast stung the air, split-second intervals between each and all coming from every physical direction. Singes of energy snagged to the Detective's exposed face, and he'd claw insanely at it to smolder and stifle the pain...Ryooki was jerking in every possible direction, swatting, smacking, clawing, punching, and grabbing at every blast.   
  
The attacks to Ryooki varied dramatically from those pursuing Hiei and Kurama...Ryooki's were child's play, distraction...but to come in contact to those stalking the flame Koorime and the fox humanoid would mean instantaneous death...and the two knew this well.   
  
Kurama eased his concoction into his pocket for later use...for the dire circumstances to come. Presently he sprinted steadily back to the spot of the first attack, rounding back and leading his blast onward.   
  
Hiei, to the opposite end of the forest as his partner, had instantly sensed Kurama's motion...they could decipher the other's plan, merely by a single step...their partnership had been honed dramatically over the years, so a slight jerk from one could silently decide a main tactic for both as a unit...though a six year interval of time had separated them, neither had forgotten how to read the other's body language with eerie precision and stealth.  
  
Both sprinted steadily for the beginning clearing, where Ryooki still defended to attacks, and Yusuke still struggled under the hybrid's footing. Kurama and Hiei were mere yards from the other, and both locked stern eyes for their partner.   
  
Kurama grit his teeth firmly in hope, and Hiei in frustration...a fraction of a blink, and they passed each other...the blasts stalking them sliced and ki shot in violent sprays, burrowing deeply into the dense trees surrounding and sparking flame every which way...Kurama and Hiei both skid against the moss of the forest floor, sliding to roughly-smooth stops...Hiei clutching to his Katana's hilt, and Kurama grasping firm to his Rose Whip...each had destroyed the other's stalker.   
  
Kurama and Hiei bowed slightly in exhaust...sweat beading to their brows, but that was merely the run...the real pain struck to their chests...the impact of their weaponry to the ki orbs shot against their flesh...skin was cracked and blood was spilled...not much, just enough to know...that this fight with Grapko...was no longer a mere battle...it was an all-out war.  
  
The stunning shower of iridescent energy blasts raining down on the now angered Ryooki, suddenly ceased, the fox-wolf tensing as he jerked to find the source of the attacks with his keen eyes.  
  
"Nice to see you all have a spark to you," a voice sang lowly...it was masculine, enticing, persuasive, and sensual...not unlike that of Yoko.  
  
Ryooki jerked to face the source of the voice, and found it chuckling in the bowels of a demonic throat...clad in black and stealth to match those of shadows...an Elite of the Hell's Shadows.  
  
"Greetings, Traitors."  
  
"Hn...you can hardly label me a traitor, you imbecile...his only problem with me was that I was born," Hiei smirked narrowly. Kurama smiled calmly, pressing his eyes shut. Ryooki gnarled his clutch into Yusuke's collar and hoisted the Detective to his feet, his expression matching that of his brother.  
  
"Come to think of it...he hates us for that very reason as well," Kurama snickered with his eyes closed casually...Ryooki snorted in agreement.  
  
"Truly...family counseling, anyone?" Ryooki chuckled, ripping his claws free from Yusuke's shirt.  
  
"You know well your crimes," the Elite was hardly amused by them, but the three demons shrugged his stinging words off.  
  
"We've nothing of guilt," Kurama sighed through a lazy smile. The Elite's burning ice eyes narrowed ferociously at him, but jerked to glare at the flame Koorime.   
  
"He does specifically." the Elite growled at the morbid Dragon, who eyed him narrowly with dangerously corrosive ruby glares.  
  
"...hn..." was all the Dragon cared to muster as his response...miraculously, Yusuke had managed to remain quiet...even Ryooki, who had known Yusuke for no more than a collective two hours since they first met nearly thirty years prior, was surprised at how quiet he had strained to stay.  
  
"Feeling sickly, Detective?" Ryooki inquired softly...until he good a true look at Yusuke...his eyes dimmed from reality and seemed to vacuum nothingness...he lacked a soul in the bowels of his eyes, and he gaped aimlessly...at the Elite soldier.  
  
"What the-?! Shadow! What trickery is this?!" Ryooki scowled, jerking Kurama's attention...both he and Hiei had noticed Yusuke's dimmed awareness...but not to this very extent.  
  
"Hypnotism," the Elite smirked a smirk only visible through such choking shadows when riddled with hate and pride.   
  
"What?!" Hiei blinked in frustrated-awe, jerking to face the shell of what was once a very foul-mouthed Detective. "Ningen! Wake up!"  
  
"That won't work," the Elite smirked all the deeper, tossing Ryooki and Hiei's stomachs. Only Kurama remained reasonably calm, let the utter fact that his tail swayed in his anger.   
  
"...indeed..." Kurama's eyes narrowed in disgust. "...you're powers could hardly work on we three of Demonic descent...so you attacked the more human of us."  
  
"Wow, you ARE good, Yoko," the Elite smirked deviously...then, with a single twitch of his icy eye, Yusuke lunged Kurama from behind.   
  
The humanoid was only caught half-off guard...he fully suspected Yusuke to attack any one of them, at any time...they collapsed to the ground, skidding against the smooth moss. Yusuke, on top, gnarled his fists taut, and, with an expression blanker and so lacking in emotion than concentrated horror could allow, Yusuke stabbed into Kurama with punch after punch. The fox was stunned at the dramatic increase with his teammate's speed, and could only block half the attacks with only just-so defense.  
  
Hiei leapt for Kurama's aid...but was met to the stomach with a kick even more hard-core than Urimeshi could normally muster. Hiei fell back in a wavered collapse, half in blunt pain at the kick, and half in awe of the increase in strength come corruption.  
  
Kurama struggled hard against Yusuke, and finally managed to whirl them both over in the moss. Leaves and twigs snagged into his mane and tail, and dust raided his eyes, but Kurama tightened his fist and bashed it to Yusuke's jaw, jerking the Detective aside a good foot.   
  
The humanoid whipped to his feet, gracefully dragging Hiei to a stand in the process...they both stepped back in stance beside the still Ryooki, and watched intently for Yusuke's next move.  
  
The Detective's facial expression was glazed with vagueness...as if even Kurama's strike didn't hurt! He didn't blink, he didn't twitch...his countenance was a vacuum, sucking all emotion in the immediate air closest to it. His face was so involved and deep with emotionlessness it was scary. He jerked this horror of an expression, if it could so be labeled, to his partners...his friends...and stared at them with abyss eyes.   
  
A deep, pulsing rivet of laughter rang through the air...the Elite was hearty in frivolity in this situation.  
  
"Stop laughing you beast!" Kurama roared as Yusuke eased slowly to a lazy stand, emotion completely sucked dry from his character. "Bring him back to normal!!"  
  
"Feh," the Elite sneered, and Yusuke dove again, this time at Hiei. The flame Koorime didn't bash into the forest floor as Kurama had, but nearly did. He blocked punch after punch, practically floating backwards the speed of their motions kept him up in the air in such a way. Yusuke, all the while dead of feeling, punched and kicked with a speed inhuman and unimaginable, even shocking in the eyes of Hiei.   
  
A good one to the stomach, a swat to the back of the neck, kneed to the throat and bashed against a tree under the influence of fifty bashes, and Hiei collapsed in tatters. Redness slipped from his gaping mouth and he moved no more.   
  
"HIEI!" Kurama sprinted for his partner's side...but the valley of his collarbone met to the Detective's elbow, sending the wind from Kurama's tangible reach. He was thrown back as his neck throbbed in intense pain, and Yusuke, eyeing him with those blank, horrific eyes, swept his leg across in a near perfect attempt to buckle against the humanoid's knees.  
  
But Kurama, the sly, cunning fox, sensed his motion, and instantly thrust back in a flip, avoiding the graze of his partner's leg with clarity and only his precision...but the fox had torn the gashes to his chest in doing so, and landed half-lopsidedly...Yusuke pounded in for the attack.  
  
A clear sweep under the knees, twelve swats to his mid-back, twelve punches to his stomach, and one kick straight in the middle between his rib-cage and stomach, and Kurama fell unconscious in pain. Scarlet escaped his nostrils and sprawled lips, and breaths were stolen from him.  
  
The Elite was almost in hysterics in his laughter...until they were severed short. Fear gaped the demon's icy eyes wide, quivering at the lashes...he could feel Ryooki's intimidating breath on his neck.   
  
"...H-how, how d-d-did y-you g-get up here-ere...?!?" He stuttered...Ryooki was to the ground, Yusuke's next victim, but a blink ago...and now he was a breath to the Elite's side, smirking a deadly, dangerous smirk.  
  
"...thought you were safe up here in your little tree..." he smirked...the Elite's eyes grew all the wider in total chaotic fear. "...but you didn't count on me ignoring the Detective." and that last seething remark was the last the Elite ever heard...for three fox-wolf claws snapped through his throat, and his blood sprayed through the air.   
  
The corpse plummeted to the ground, a ribbon of crimson slipping in a graceful stream after it. Ryooki grunted after it in disgust, licking his fingers tenderly of the demon's blood.   
  
Yusuke suddenly blinked baffled eyes, emotion, feeling, and life glazing over the prior vacuums of solitude that had decked his face. He cracked his neck to his shoulder, and looked around in confusion. He gaped in horror when he noticed Hiei, the Dragon propped in a sit against a bruised and battered tree...the Koorime was unconscious, his arms limp between his sprawled legs...blood ran every which way.  
  
"HIEI!" Yusuke roared, sprinting to his friend's side. He steadied Hiei firmly, but shook gently. "Hiei...Hiei wake up! What the hell happened to you?!"  
  
"...you...you, dumb...ass..." Hiei whispered coarsely, attempting to pry free, but collapsing to the ground. Yusuke smiled slightly, knowing Hiei must be alright to a main extent.   
  
And his glimpse locked onto Kurama...sprawled on the mossy ground, his hair disheveled in wild, frayed locks. His trench coat, the blackest of black, held to it a red sheen, visible even against its shade...blood. It laced from his nose and lips, and he was in tatters.  
  
"Go...help, Kitsune..." Hiei demanded weakly...before collapsing unconscious. In massive reluctance the Detective tore from the Dragon's side, and he ran for Kurama, bowing beside him in fear and worry.  
  
"Kurama! Kurama please wake up, buddy! Come on, Kurama!"   
  
Slowly emerald eased visible under sagging lids, but a breath of relief escaped Yusuke's nostrils. "You're okay!"  
  
"In a sense..." Kurama coughed, cracking his neck...he caught a glimpse to his coat, and sighed in utter annoyance. "...oh dammit! It's such a nuisance to get this jacket dry-cleaned, and now I get it all bloody!...Botan isn't going to like this..."  
  
Yusuke eyed the man propped against him in pure shock, then collapsed in laughter, dropping the weak Kurama. The red head bashed to the dense ground, a look of confusion about his meek face. Hiei, clutching tenderly to his stomach, rolled his eyes in annoyance, grunting coarsely in the depths of his throat.   
  
From above Ryooki watched on in slight awe, and smirked. "Hmm...they really have what it takes to battle Grapko?"  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
Hey...what did you think? Eh? REVIEW! Tell me your favorite part, please! Lol...mine was when Hiei and Kurama were running through the forest, and they instinctively knew what tactic to pull...I LOVED that part lol...but, yeah, haha...okay, well, review! Latr. 


	12. The Privacy of Training

*Anemone's room...Anemone's tuning her guitar, Mirai Trunks is steadying the volume to his turn-tables, and Kurama's at the keyboard practicing scales very smoothly and quickly...Hiei's in the tree-limb just outside the window, tapping his drum-sticks against the tree as he waits for the practice session to begin*  
  
Hiei: *pricks slightly, calmly leans in through the window* Onna...my Onna and the irritating other Onna are coming.  
  
Anemone: hn? Oh...okey dokey, then, Flames. *Hiei rolls eyes and blurs into the room*  
  
Kurama: *stops playing* what song shall we mimic for our next performance?  
  
Anemone: Future? Any ideas?  
  
Mirai Trunks: *pauses in thought, really cute expression of indecisiveness...slowly faces the group* how about...The Only by Static X?  
  
Anemone: SWEET! I LOVE that song!! *turns for Kurama and Hiei* What about you two?! Huh?! Huh?! HUH?!  
  
Kurama and Hiei: *blink, side-glance to each other, blink back at her*  
  
Kurama: ^_^; that sounds like you'd enjoy yourself, Mones...I'll partake.  
  
Hiei: –_–; hn. Whatever...  
  
Anemone: YAY! It's a good song. Yup. Yup it is. Yup...  
  
Mirai Trunks: hey Hiei-  
  
Hiei: -hn? What?  
  
Mirai Trunks: didn't you say that Anneliese and Ellen were-  
  
*-Ellen pounds into the room, smacking Trunks upside the head with the door and he collapses, clutching hard to his head...Ellen sprints into the center of the room, shooting paint-balls after her with her handy-dandy paint-ball gun...Anneliese looks pissy as she runs in, and Ellen yelps, shooting more and more...Trunks eventually manages to stand up*  
  
Anneliese: ELLEN! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DID THAT!  
  
Ellen: FOR THE RECORD, IT'S MY JOB! *bang*   
  
All else: O_O;;  
  
Kurama: *grabs Anemone and ducks from an onslaught of paint-balls*   
  
Anneliese: UGH! *turns to others* SHE ALREADY SCHEDULED US ANOTHER GIG!!  
  
All: O_O;;; WHAT?!  
  
Ellen: *bang* *it hits the now still Anneliese in the arm, and she slowly turns to glare at Ellen* *REALLY long pause*   
  
Hiei: *pissed off glare* why the HELL do you do things like this, Onna?  
  
Ellen: *twiddles fingers sheepishly* ...I dunno...  
  
Anemone: UGH! *tears away from Kurama, collapses on the floor, stares up at the ceiling* ...when is it?  
  
Ellen: *shifty eyes* ...uh...  
  
Mirai Trunks: *rubs eyes with thumb and index finger, groans* ...let me guess...tonight?  
  
Ellen: WOW! *beams* you guys really DO know me!!  
  
All: ELLEN!!  
  
Kurama: *slumps on keyboard* this'll be a doozy...  
  
Anemone: *still lying on the floor* ...no freakin' duh...  
  
Kurama: well, band-mates? Shall we work into our song?  
  
Hiei: ...never call me a 'band-mate' ever again, Kitsune...*sits to his drummer's stool*  
  
Kurama: ^_^; fair enough...what of you three? *turns to Anneliese, Mirai Trunks, and Anemone* Ready to begin our session?   
  
Anemone: *sigh, stands up, tunes guitar* yeah, sure...  
  
Mirai Trunks: *cracks neck, fiddles with turn-tables* I'm game.   
  
Anneliese: we'd better start practicing now...*whips out her bass guitar* ...you guys ready?  
  
All: yeah sure/I suppose/hn/let's go...  
  
Ellen: YEAH! LET'S GET TO IT! WOO! YEAH!  
  
All: *sweatdrop*  
  
Anneliese: –_–; Ellen go to that far corner and feel ashamed of yourself for doing this to us.  
  
Ellen: *bows head in shame* okay...  
  
Mirai Trunks and Kurama: O_O; *blink slowly to each other*  
  
Hiei: *smirk at Anneliese's handiwork* ...Onna I love you.  
  
Anneliese: :-D  
  
Anemone: *smacks face* okay can we get back to business?! Band practice, people!  
  
All: right!  
  
Ellen: *in the far corner, back to others* hell yeah!  
  
Anemone: *turns to readers* new chapter, hot and slowly cooling...get at it before it gets stale!   
  
Kurama: *playing keyboard*  
  
All: ...  
  
Kurama: *still playing*  
  
All: ...?  
  
Kurama: *still playing*  
  
Mirai Trunks: *COUGH...*  
  
Kurama: *slowly opens eyes, realizes everyone is looking at him* ...  
  
All: ...?  
  
Kurama: ...OH! Heh...^_^;; Chapter 13, enjoy.   
  
Chapter 13: The Privacy of Training  
  
Heavy breaths...ninja-like steps...stealth...grace...silence...light smogging his features for the briefest of seconds...shadows darkening the eerily calm, yet narrowed contours of his face. He sped viciously through the wooded span, his steps barely shifting the leaves underfoot in brilliant accuracy.  
  
"Found you," a sensual, smug voice stung against the air...and a frame of knuckles bashed against his face.   
  
He flew through the air, tearing against the wind at the force of her punch...and rammed to a tree, the bark and underlining wood splintering off in jagged snags. His violent emerald eyes narrowed at her, and he allowed his head to bow under influence of exhaust...the flashing brilliance of his eyes never dimmed...but were hidden under his violent frays of sapphire locks.  
  
"...owwww..." Kisho moaned lowly, his expression taut. "Yeesh Ryuu didya hafta hit so hard?!"   
  
"Hn..." was the she-Dragon's only response as she stepped from the velvety shadows to the dim light of the forest clearing. Her skin was all the fairer in the moonlit area, and her spiky raven hair laced itself gracefully into the passing wind. Her smirk never faltered, and her naturally acute ruby stare gazed to him playfully. "Come now, sparring partner...I know quite well you can fight better than THAT..."  
  
"Feh...why do we hafta train anyway?" he tore from his dent to the tree, rolling his shoulder a few times in it's tight, sore socket. He cracked his neck and settled to the ground in a sit, leaning against the tree and locking eyes to the painted sky above.   
  
"Because, Kisho...we have to establish ourselves as useful in our fathers' conquests...I refuse to endanger my Father any more than need be when I could be of assistance." Ryuuhayai spat primly, her arms tucked firmly behind her the entire while.  
  
"...my Dad would never hear of such a thing...me fighting along side with him? I bet he regrets ever training me and Ai in the first place..." Kisho sighed slowly, his eyes dimming of attention.   
  
A pause shared between Dragon and Fox-Wolf, as the bluette stared longingly for the sky. His heart tugged hard, tense and taut in sadness and pain.   
  
"...I'm really worried...Hiei once told me...they all nearly died...trying to stop Grapko the first time around..." Kisho curled himself against his dent to the tree, and allowed his very soul to saturate his eyes in acuteness.   
  
Suddenly, he pricked, and whipped in a duck...just avoiding Ryuuhayai's grazing punch. Her jagged fist bashed against the tense density of the tree, and it split into two even entities, slipping smoothly in opposite directions and smacking to the ground.  
  
Kisho gaped slightly at her brilliant handiwork, and she jerked in a glare at him.  
  
"Laziness is not an option!" she seethed. "You worry and wish not to train because of lack of approval on Kurama's part?! Despite Kurama's paranoia, we must pursue this! True our fathers were the strongest of the Rekai Tenkai...but they are getting steadily older...do you truly wish for them to attempt at Grapko and get killed?!"  
  
"Are YOU certain they'll die?!" Kisho spat angrily, scrambling viciously to a stand...his height vastly exceeded hers...and for the first time ever...she looked...fragile.  
  
"...I did not say they'd die!" she roared in her particular way, seeming just as intimidating and superior as ever...had there not been the age gap...he may have been her immediate equal...but he cringed nonetheless at her roar, and reluctantly turned to face her again with narrowed eyes. "I merely fear and expect the worst! I do not allow myself to believe all will turn out well when there is the obvious factor that it may NOT!"   
  
Neither seemed tolerable of the other's presence...they were both hot with anger...  
  
Her face was tense, reddened at the temples...she refused to give in to hope...she had to trust reason...probability...the chances of her father winning were slim...she knew there was little to hope for...she had to keep a clear head...she knew hope was useless...  
  
Kisho was the exact opposite...he had the utmost faith in Kurama, and in Hiei...in Yusuke...in Ryooki...he knew their chances of success were dangerously narrow...but he couldn't stand the thought of his father failing...not Kurama...not the most dependable of Rekai Tenkai...he couldn't fail...he couldn't...die...  
  
Kisho's face tightened in denial... "No! They wouldn't need us, they're stronger than reason! You know that, Ryuu!"  
  
"Grow up!" she barked...Kisho was taken aback slightly, eyeing the angered, frustrated girl before him...in the farthest depths of her corrosive eyes...he caught a glimpse...of fear.  
  
"You don't get it, do you, Blue?!" she hissed, jerking away...he swore he saw crystalline beads rip from her taut eyes as she tore for the side...and he pricked.  
  
'Tears?!' he thought in shock.   
  
A tugging sensation tampered to his heart...and he felt the need to...touch her...he pricked, and shame kept him to himself, away from the girl with the violently jagged aura. He could feel her hold her trembling emotions...he could feel her...yearning...for security. For the hope...the hope she had never allowed herself to have.  
  
Reason was the only means of living for her. Facts. Truth. Probability. Skill. Chance. Strength. Never hope. Hope was for the weak...for the needy...for those who didn't focus on the blatant truths of a situation. But...was hope truly that bad? Could it seriously only lead to pain? ...to sadness? ...to disappointment...?  
  
She pricked...for she was slowly enveloped in a tender hug. She blinked upwards, and saw Kisho...he cradled his cheek into her hair, and a dreamy, sleepy look caught to his face...his beautiful face...again she pricked, and redness burned to her now denying expression. Kisho's arms were warm and gentle, calming...soothing...so...kind.  
  
Kisho felt Ryuuhayai's rigid form slowly ease in his hold, and he smiled tiredly. He nestled all the tighter...it was so comfortable. Her form against his...it felt so...right.   
  
Slowly he felt a pressure return against him...she was embracing him back. Kisho pricked just slightly, and felt a singe spark against the smooth slope of his nose...but he smiled gently, and tightened around her.  
  
"...it's okay...Hayai..." he breathed softly, his words ruffling against her bushy mane. Her tensed form loosened a bit more at his words, and he could sense her face burning taut in a reluctant blush. He chuckled calmly into her black hair, which he had to lean downwards slightly to reach.   
  
Again her scent loomed into his flared nostrils...and again he couldn't help but inhale the smooth aroma. His sense of smell was sharper than reason could have allowed...and he took immense advantage over that. He smiled dreamily as he held his friend, calming her frazzled, angered senses and slowly softening her rugged aura.   
  
Suddenly, he felt a violent jerk at his collar, and found himself to his knees, gaping wide-eyed into narrowed slits of flaming ruby. He cringed...she wasn't too happy with him...  
  
Clenched firmly in her tense, milky hold, was his tie and collar, and swallowing had increased dramatically in difficulty.  
  
"Listen here, Minamino!" she barked coarsely...and he cringed harder. Whenever she said his last name, it was never good. "...I may have hugged you back but that DOESN'T mean you can go and freakin' smell my hair!!"  
  
And with that she dealt a very firm elbow to the region between the stomach and rubs...he gaped in pain, the air having been vacuumed straight from his inhale. He collapsed to the ground, clutching to the swelling bruise and struggling to breath.  
  
"...SORRY!" he managed to gasp in a viciously dry wheeze. Ryuuhayai angrily whirled in her footing and thread her arms across her chest, primly shooting her nose in the air and walking briskly away.  
  
"HAYAI!" he coughed and sputtered, his breath slowly returning to him. She continued in her spry walk, ignoring him haughtily. He collapsed in defeat, moaning loudly. "At LEAST come back so we can finish our sparring session!!" he called after her in hope...but her steps kept meshing to the leaves underfoot, and continued to carry her away. Again his head fell to the ground in despair, and he moaned all the louder.  
  
Suddenly, he pricked, and whirled around just in time to see a fist to his face. The impact of knuckle to his nose instantly jerked consciousness from his reach, and he fell into bracing arms, which slid away into the shadows...carrying the now unconscious Fox-Wolf to beyond the dimension of humans.   
  
Ryuuhayai muttered angrily to herself, spitting out venomous rants about the youngest of their generation...until she pricked, and jerked to look back for the clearing with widened red eyes. She blurred against tangible reality in a sprint, and skid to a rugged stop in the compact dirt...her nostrils flared as she caught hold to it...to the scent...of Kisho's blood.  
  
She growled to herself, and sped off in search for Ai. 'Dammit, Kisho! Can't take care of himself...he's going to get himself killed! He already got the kidnaping out of the way...damn him!' she scolded herself for having ever abandoned him...for having ever elbowed him and rendering him useless for the immediate fifteen minutes after contact...she cursed herself violently, and her only visible aspect in her run was her violent, raging aura of angered ki.   
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
Hey! What did you think? TELL ME!! Review! Tell me your favorite part! Lol I subconsciously made this the most important couple, didn't I? Well, no matter how much I was aiming at Ai to be the main character, despite her importance, her pairing with Yukio isn't as interesting as Kisho and Ryuu, is it? Lol c'mon! Daughter of Hiei and son of Kurama, of course it's gonna subconsciously revolve around them! Ha! But don't worry...it's still a tad more bout Ai...I guess...dunno? ^_^;; Review! I wuv this couple...lol...latr!! 


	13. Attack the Young

*Anemone's room...everyone's practicing diligently, and there's been a lot of progress...Ellen, who had been sentenced to stand in the corner...well...she fell asleep against the wall, still standing*  
  
Ellen: ...zzzzzzzzzz...*mumble-mumble* Jesse...zzz...   
  
All: –_–;;  
  
Anemone: *cracks neck* well, I think we're ready to get to the club.  
  
All else: ?!   
  
Anemone: ...? What?  
  
Mirai Trunks: *cough* hem...uh, Mones? Are you sure you can do this...?  
  
Anemone: *blinky* ...?  
  
Hiei: Onna the last time we performed you fell from consciousness...  
  
Anemone: *mutters to herself as she tries to remember, pricks* ...ooooh...^_^; heh...oh yeah...  
  
Kurama: well, I'm sure that she'd be fine if we pack a decent supply of paper bags-  
  
Hiei: -and if we bring this... *holds up a bottle of Irish Whiskey*   
  
Mirai Trunks: O_O;;...*ki blasts it*   
  
Hiei: ...*holding a broken bottle neck*...*glares at Trunks* Saiyan, I knew you were a boy scout, but seriously! I'M of drinking age-  
  
Mirai Trunks: do NONE of you remember what happened the LAST time Hiei guzzled her with alcohol?!  
  
Kurama and Anneliese: *blinky, side-glance each other, shrug*  
  
Mirai Trunks: –_–;; *little vein pulsing in his frustration* she got drunk and it totally ruined her focus!!  
  
Kurama: *blink* ...all I remember is your future counterpart appearing and yelling at us.  
  
Hiei and Anneliese: yeah/hn/true/that's all I remember...  
  
Ellen: ...zzz-JESSE!!!  
  
All: ...?  
  
Ellen: ...*long pause* ...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...   
  
All: –_–;;  
  
Mirai Trunks: look...no alcohol...no drugs...nothing besides paper bags!  
  
Anemone: I don't see why you're worrying so much...I'm sure I'll be just fine...!  
  
*fast-forward to backstage of p3*  
  
Anemone: *breathing really hard into a paper bag*  
  
Mirai Trunks: *rubbing her back* –_–;;  
  
Anemone: *bag pops*  
  
All: ...  
  
Kurama: *sigh* are you certain we can't give her anything to soothe her senses? *Mirai Trunks calmly helps her hold another bag to her face*  
  
Hiei: *growling in the far corner* her damn hormones! I can feel her damned aura from here! And it hurts!   
  
Anneliese: *checking the equipment over* hmm...why do I feel like there's something missing?  
  
Kurama: hm? What do you mean, Anneliese?   
  
*back at Anemone's house*  
  
Ellen: *leaning against corner sleeping* zzz...*snort*...zzz...*mumble*...zzz-Jesse...? *slowly wakes up, rubs eyes, and turns around...notices entire house is dark and abandoned*  
  
Outside in the night: AHHHHHHHHH!!! THEY ABANDONED ME!!!!   
  
*p3*   
  
Mirai Trunks and Kurama: *glance at each other, blink, think really hard, shrug*  
  
Kurama: I'm certain we have everything...  
  
Hiei: *pricks* hn? *starts looking around*  
  
Mirai Trunks: what is it Hiei?  
  
Hiei: ...does anyone else notice...how much...quieter...it is...?   
  
Anemone: *bag pops* ELLEN!!  
  
All: *gape*  
  
Mirai Trunks and Kurama: *side-glance, wince*  
  
Mirai Trunks: ...she's not gonna be that happy...*door suddenly pounds open, and there she is...an eerie blast of lightening cracks behind her, and she glares murderously*  
  
Anemone: not good NOT GOOD! *sprints for the stage*  
  
Mirai Trunks and Kurama: *side-glance each other, follow*  
  
Hiei: *blurs*  
  
Anneliese: *shifty eyes* *whispers over shoulder* guys?!  
  
Ellen: how could you just leave me?!?!  
  
Anneliese: ...er...*long pause, runs like hell*  
  
Ellen: meunaghasdgdstddjf!!! *looks as if she's about to combust in anger*  
  
Anemone: *slowly sneaks back behind Ellen, uploads chapter, and runs back to stage* *whisper* enjoy!!  
  
Chapter 14: Attack the Young  
  
Quivering motions, a taut face...emerald glossed over in pain-stricken, subconscious tears, and they slowly bobbed open...scanning through the blinding darkness, fear was the first emotion to beat rapidly through his fragile system...he jerked in all directions, his ponytail disheveled and loose, the sapphire locks spiking over his widened, terror-stricken eyes.  
  
"Holy shit where am I?!" Kisho whispered coarsely, even his wolf-like eyes blind in the swallowing pits of blackness around him. Intense, swollen throbs of pain shot in mad pulses through his wrists and ankles...and he had but one glance to know why. He gaped in pain and terror...for digging through his toast-ivory flesh and snagging into the dense muscle...was an arrow.  
  
He pricked, and jerked to face both ankles and the counter arm...he found all of the same fate, dug into with arrows. He wriggled and jerked madly, grunts of frustrated agony chaffing in the depths of his throat.  
  
"You don't want to do that..." an eerie voice snapped against the air, pricking his attention...near instantly he jerked to a roar of fury, wrestling against the stone wall he was stabbed into.  
  
"...oh, the young never listen..." the voice fussed in annoyance, then the youth could sense the outline of a mocking smirk. Kisho snarled threateningly, his tail rigid in anger and ruffled in rage. "...nice mood ring ya got there..."  
  
The bluette spat for the side, his glare dangerously narrow and bubbling in poisonous green. His expression low and narrow, he glared murderously into the darkness engulfing him.  
  
"Now, now, my boy...! Calmness is your father's best attribute...where'd all this recklessness come from?"   
  
Kisho growled in a very wolf-like way, and smirked in even more so a wolf-like way. "My mother was never one for sitting still, I suppose..."  
  
"Ah...A.D.D?" the counter sneered, and pulsed in a chuckle at the youth's rigid, thoroughly violent response.  
  
"Who the hell are you?!" Kisho roared through grit fangs...fangs honed by his reckless anger...only slightly hereditary, mostly of his youthful nature of instinctive violence and growls.  
  
"Well, you were MUCH calmer around that gothic miss, now weren't you?" the voice scoffed. Kisho pricked slightly at Ryuuhayai's mention.  
  
"So what if I was?! I wasn't freakin' stabbed into a damned WALL!" he roared, prying against the wall and against the pain in yet another vanity-riddled attempt towards freedom.  
  
"Come boy you think them ordinary arrows?" the stranger smirked. "...those were stolen of Ryooki's hoard."  
  
The name instantly clicked to the fox-wolf's head. "R-Ryooki?!" he stuttered awkwardly.  
  
"Mm," came the dreary, low response, followed by an echo of a chuckle into the mass of what seemed to be a midnight cave. "...and Ryooki is known for his...'unique' arrows...I wouldn't take them lightly...smart demons never do..."  
  
"Unique in what sense?" Kisho hinted cautiously, eyeing the darkness for a clue as to his captor. 'His scent isn't that of an animal-breed demon...' the bluette deduced with a single whiff. '...then what type IS he...?!'  
  
"Unique in the sense that they have indescribable abilities."  
  
"And this I'm supposed to compute as a decent answer?!" Kisho snarled.  
  
"Vicious...moody...and you've got a bit of a brain atop those shoulders..." the voice cooed tauntingly, causing the bluette's blood to boil in a frothy curdle and his tail to stand rigid in annoyance. "...good...I expected no less...of the son of Yoko."   
  
Kisho pricked, eyeing the darkness in question and shock.   
  
"Good day, my boy..." the voice began to drift in a waving motion away from the captive.   
  
"Who the damned hell ARE you?!" Kisho threw his torso in violent directions, stubbornly trying to tear loose.   
  
"I wouldn't rip free if I were you..." the voice smirked, Kisho grunting in a dog-like snort. "...in the state you're in, those arrows in those positions...they're keeping you alive."  
  
Kisho pricked in fear...was this demon really telling the truth?! Could he seriously be pinned for his very life's sake?!   
  
"Where are you going?!" Kisho growled.  
  
"...I'm going to fetch your sister."  
  
Kisho stole a sharp gasp, and blinked fearfully into the darkness...the foe had disappeared, and he was after Ai.   
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
Rustle. Shift. Slash!! Thud. A wind laced the trees and played into the nimbly spidery branches, cooing into the leaves and vines. There lay the sprawled form of a she-Detective, groaning intensely...at the feet of a calm she-Fox.  
  
  
  
"Is that the best you can do, Gakilei? Truly I've seen better sessions as your sparring partner," Ai smirked playfully, hoisting the Detective to her wobbly stand.  
  
"Yeah well..." Gakilei quickly shrugged away from Ai's support as she scratched her chin in a lie. "...I had you...if you were just a little less-"  
  
"-demonic?" Ai smirked, snickering calmly to herself. Her tail swayed smoothly, flicking rigid as a sense overwhelmed her sensitive awareness. "Hmm?" she slowly tossed her gaze over her shoulder at the approaching presence of a sprinting Ryuuhayai.  
  
A jagged smear skid to a halt, swaying into the humanoid form of a rough and haggard Ryuuhayai. Ai and Gakilei pricked at her odd entrance, and noticed a feel of...fear, in her aura.  
  
"Ryuu?" Ai blinked calmly, shifting her footing to face the girl wholly. Ryuuhayai seemed oddly hesitant to give her story...and almost instantly Ai realized a matter wrong with the predicament.  
  
"Ryuu where's Kisho?" Ai asked in concern and sternness. When the she-Dragon's only move was to turn away with a wavered grunt, Ai gasped slightly, and grasped firmly to Ryuuhayai's shoulders.  
  
"Ryuuhayai! Where is my little brother?!" her pink eyes slit in fox-like violence and worry as she practically shook the Dragon. Ryuuhayai tore her shoulders away, and glared in such a way that only Hiei's been known to do...when he prepared to kill. Ai pricked and drew back, but, in a very Kurama-like-way, she growled and grasped onto her again.  
  
"Tell me, Ryuuhayai! What happened to him?!"  
  
"He's been captured..." the Dragon spat angrily, ripping away from a numb fox.  
  
"He...he's been...been captured?!" Ai struggled with the words, shaking slightly...her tail fell limp, the hairs loose to a dead extent.   
  
Gakilei was riddled in fear and anguish... "Well we hafta go save the runt, don't we?!" she grunted, about to sprint off in search for Yukio and Kane...when a nimble leg shot out in front of her, buckling against her steps and snapping her from her footing to the ground.  
  
Ryuuhayai snorted down at the Detective, pulling her leg back after tripping her. "Detective we need more of a lead to find him then raw motivation..."  
  
"Can't you use your Jagon, Ryuu?" Gakilei countered in a dare...Ai looked hopefully for a response, for a positive answer...but found in Ryuuhayai's eyes curdling fear, and her tail sagged limp yet again.  
  
"...my Jagon can't scan into separate dimensions..." Ryuuhayai sighed faintly, almost too calmly in strain. "...there's no way I'd be able to find him...because I could sense his captor was a demon."  
  
Gakilei pricked, and Ai struggled with herself. "How...how could Kisho be captured?!"   
  
"Very easily," a foreign voice taunted, pricking at their ears. The three whirled around viciously, subconsciously diving in stances...Gakilei in that of Genkai's style, Ryuuhayai in that of Hiei's, and Ai in that of Kurama's.  
  
"Who are you?!" Ryuuhayai growled, her bow low and sharp as her stinging eyes caught hold of shadowy glimpses of the stalker. Gakilei growled lowly, her human eyes limited to the standards of her companions. Ai scanned calmly, her sensually narrow eyes set to a firm, threatening expression. Rustle.  
  
Each jerked and snatched for the sound, growling bluntly...before Gakilei was knocked to the ground, unconscious and bleeding.  
  
"Lei!" Ai tore for the Detective, sprinting to her side. Ryuuhayai blurred in front and kneed Ai away just as an orb of blinding whiteness hit for the Fox and Detective. Ai whirled in a graced flip, landing to a knee and one hand, before kicking against the dense earth in a lunge for Ryuuhayai. Screams of stifled pain racked free from the she-Dragon's rigid form as the ki stung through her...at it's dimming light, she collapsed, having taking the full-blow of the demon's raw energy.  
  
"Ryuu!" Ai cried, running to her and the Detective's sides. A snicker snatched violently at her attention, and she glared amethyst daggers into the misty darkness of the woods.  
  
"Who are you?!" Ai roared, jerking behind in a whirl...to block a punch. A shroud of humanoid blackness, distinctions lost in misty darkness...the Fox pricked slightly, unable to register as to what type of demon breed this was.  
  
The foe tore his wrist free of the girl's block, and whipped loose an eerily shiny blade...the second's passing had yet to compute in even Ai's clever mind, it had occurred so fast...as had the penetration of her flesh at her stomach.   
  
Not even a scream escaped her gaping expression...just stifled pain locked in shock. Redness sprayed from her stomach wound, and she collapsed, wincing uncontrollably. She lay sprawled to the ground, holding the bleeding stab to her stomach. Heavy breaths racked her in insanely jagged inhales, and sweat beaded to her brow.   
  
The foe played to his dagger somewhat, and the sense of his smirk through the darkness sent a shiver to wave the hairs of her tail on end. She growled darkly, and scrambled to her feet, blood staining her left leg and entire front of her shirt and skirt. Her hair blew in the looming wind, and her eyes sharpened in honed glares.  
  
Her enemy smirked all the deeper, and lunged. Ai pricked, unable to dart away...but a blade of eerily iridescent silver shot through the dense flesh of his neck, cracking blood free. She stole a sharp gasp, pain throbbing at her stomach wound, but she watched on...and saw a very angry Ryuuhayai tear her Katana loose.   
  
Redness sprayed from the jerk of metal from skin...and Ryuuhayai's narrow eyes were slit with emotionlessness. Gakilei hissed a threatening groan, and, growling darkly, jerked her head up. "That damned Hell's Shadow!" she grunted at the bubbling corpse.  
  
Ryuuhayai calmly blinked towards her, and 'hn'd'...Ai collapsed to her knees, grasping greedily to her wound. *is it just me, or does Kurama get practically nothing but stomach wounds? Lol...*   
  
"Hn?" Ryuuhayai grunted in question, casting her assassin-thin eyes in direction of the pained fox. "You alright, Minamino?"  
  
"I've seen better days," she strained towards a smile, one eye refusing to open as she chuckled calmly. "...as has my stomach..."  
  
"Holy crap!!" Gakilei hissed, collapsing to the ground, clutching her head. "That damned, damned, damned-damned-damned, damned THING!"  
  
Ai blinked at the cussing Detective, and rolled her eyes in a worthy sigh. A smile fluttered to her lips, and her practically corpse-like tail was flicking with liveliness yet again...under the influence of her pain.   
  
"Surely, Urimeshi, if ever you were to die we'd all miss your sparkling intellect and colorfully diverse vocabulary..." Ryuuhayai snorted sarcastically through a smug smirk as she replaced her blade to it's jade sheath.   
  
Gakilei blinked briefly at Ryuuhayai's mockery, then growled, having just understood the majority of it's meaning. Ai chuckled somewhat, shaking her head and sighing. Her expression then went grave... "...Kisho..."  
  
"So'd you kill it, Ryuu?" Gakilei cracked her neck and eyed the demon curiously.  
  
"No...I just slew it mercilessly and allowed it enough life to tell us..." she gnarled her milky fist into the creature's collar and dragged him from his mesh to the ground to above her stature. "...where the hell Kisho is!"  
  
The demon spat at her, but her god-like speed allowed her a smug escape. She wrinkled her nose bitterly and glared even more threateningly at the disgusting Hell's Shadow. "Where the damned hell is the bluette you thing?"  
  
"I shall never tell you! An Elite of the Hell's Shadows NEVER succumbs to torture!" he snarled.  
  
"An Elite are we?" Ryuuhayai smirked. "And you couldn't kill three little girls?"  
  
The Elite, his neck practically severed and completely spilled of blood, strained in a dare of a growl, but Ryuuhayai simply grunted and jerked him away from her, extending her arm completely straight for the direct side. She calmly shut her ruby eyes, and smirked. "You can either answer to me...or Kisho's pissed-off sister."  
  
Ai, who had been giving the Elite a very Kurama-type look, glared even more narrowly. The Elite coughed spurts of blood as they caught in his throat, but refused to answer even as his last remnants of glossy red slipped from the corner of his gritting mouth.   
  
He glared dangerously at the she-Fox, but pricked when he felt a poke to his neck. There stood Gakilei, completely prepared to fire a deadly bullet. He quivered, and knew she was a rather formidable foe herself...had she not been caught off-guard for his first attack, she would have been able to fend him off as the other two had.   
  
"Spill verbally or spill literally..." Gakilei smirked. "...your choice."  
  
"He's my captive, he's in the demonic world, and all-else for you to ever know I refuse to tell!!" he laughed. The Elite then roared violently, and a spray of ruby cracked from his chest. Ryuuhayai tore her hand away, and looked at the creature in shock...he had committed suicide.  
  
She slowly side-glanced for Ai, and the two exchanged an eerily long pause of silent eye-locks.   
  
"What now?" Gakilei piped, an obvious look of concern over her slender face. Silence followed her question, Ai and Ryuuhayai unable to answer.  
  
Rustles and grunts sounded into hearing. The three girls slowly turned to face a random direction, of which Yukio and Kane spilled into view, both holding scared pulses and courageous expressions. Kane pricked instantly at the sight of the bubbling corpse at Ryuuhayai's feet...and Yukio pricked instantly at the sight of the bleeding, wounded Ai.   
  
"Are you three alright?!" Yukio leapt over a bush, and approached his twin first. Kane and Ryuuhayai exchanged a steady glare, and he turned to face Ai.   
  
"Our spar was interrupted when my Jagon sensed a demon...and I smelled Gakilei's blood." he sighed slowly. "...what happened here?"  
  
"And why wasn't Kisho here to help you three fight this thing?!" Yukio added angrily, before taking note the hurt expression playing to Ai's face. "......Ai...?" a silence around the group, and Kane was singular to build up the stamina to face the girls with the question.  
  
"Where's Kisho?" he coughed bluntly, unsure if he really wanted to know.  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
Too lazy to write up an ending skit...lol sorry! But moving on...review!!!! Yeah that's right...I want you to review! I want to know what the hell was your favorite part! Lol...and don't worry, Botan fans...next chapter, it'll be Kurama, then Botan, then Kurama, then Botan again, then Kurama again, then...well, I guess the end of chapter 15 lol...anywho...please review, tell me your favorite parts, and the like...latr!! 


	14. Danger in the Very Shadows

*backstage of p3...huge uproar of applause heard from the crowd as Corrosive makes its way from the stage...Kurama leads them off, guzzling a bottle of water having just sung lead...Anneliese is skipping happily, dragging along a reluctant, moaning Hiei...and enter Mirai Trunks spinning in circles with Anemone in the air*  
  
Anemone: WEE!  
  
Mirai Trunks: *laughing* we did it!  
  
Hiei: *smirk* and the Onna stayed conscious...  
  
Anemone: HURRAH! I, THE ONNA, STAYED CONSCIOUS!  
  
Kurama and Mirai Trunks: ^_^;;  
  
Kurama: indeed...what an accomplishment, Mones.   
  
Anneliese: *look of pure horror*  
  
Hiei: hn? Onna?  
  
Anneliese: ...  
  
Kurama: ...Anneliese...? Are you alright...?  
  
Anneliese: *slowly shakes head, staring out blankly*  
  
Mirai Trunks: *gently placing Anemone down* what is--GAH!  
  
Anemone: huh? What's--*prick* uh-oh...  
  
*all stare in horror in the same direction...straight at...ELLEN!! dun-dun-dun!!!*  
  
Anemone: uh...*shifty eyes*...hi, Ellen!  
  
Ellen: *hiss*  
  
Anemone: -eep!!!- *leaps into Mirai Trunks's arms*  
  
Mirai Trunks: -O_O; wha-whoa!! *collapses because he didn't expect that...all this in 2 seconds*  
  
Hiei and Anneliese: –_–;;  
  
Kurama: ^_^;;  
  
Mirai Trunks: *now sprawled on the floor with Anemone in his arms...looks terrified as he slowly holds Anemone tighter* ...er...still mad, ne?  
  
Ellen: how could you just DITCH me?!?!  
  
All: *points desperately at Anneliese* IT WAS HER FAULT!  
  
Anneliese: *who had meekly tried pointing at Kurama* ...GAH?! TRAITORS!  
  
Ellen: WHY SHOULD ONLY ANNELIESE SUFFER?!  
  
Anneliese: YEAH! Why SHOULD only Anneliese suffer?!  
  
Anemone: *glare* cuz it's your fault...  
  
Anneliese: ...*glare*  
  
Ellen: I think you should ALL suffer!!  
  
All: wait-what?!  
  
Ellen: *whips out her handy-dandy...PAINTBALL GUN!! evil smirk*  
  
Anemone: aw shit-  
  
Ellen: -BANG!!   
  
All: GAH!!   
  
Ellen: *starts shooting randomly*  
  
Kurama: Ellen! Please! Listen to reason!! *leaps and dodges the paintballs gracefully*  
  
Hiei: *blurs in and out of view, avoiding the many paintballs being shot at him*  
  
Anneliese: AHH!!! *running around like crazy trying to avoid the shots*  
  
Mirai Trunks: *kicks off against the floor in flight, safely hovering in midair with Anemone*  
  
Anemone: HEY! WHY ARE WE AFRAID OF PAINTBALLS, ANYWAY?!  
  
Hiei: hn? Hey...yeah...why are we?!  
  
Kurama: *stops dodging to pause in thought...gets hit in the arm and slowly turns to look at it...blink* hmm...it's actually kind of tickles, really.  
  
Mirai Trunks: really? Hmm...  
  
Ellen: *blinky* aww DAMN...*prick, evil smirk* BWAHAHAHA!!  
  
Hiei: *staring narrowly at Ellen, slowly whispers out of the corner of his mouth to Anneliese* Onna what the hell is your crazy cousin going to do...?  
  
Ellen: *whips out a case of matches!!*  
  
All: O_O  
  
Kurama: RUN! GOOD LORD RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!  
  
Ellen: *sets the paint in her gun ablaze and shoots*  
  
All: AHH!!  
  
Kurama: ELLEN! DO YOU KNOW HOW FLAMMABLE PAINT IS?! YOU'LL KILL US ALL!!  
  
Mirai Trunks: not to mention the damned FUMES! *flying randomly to avoid flamming orbs of paint*  
  
Hiei: *gets hit in the chest* HOLY SHIT...*glares dangerously at Ellen* Onna...you...will...PAY!!  
  
Ellen: *prick* huh?  
  
Hiei: *whips out Katana* THIS IS MY FAVORITE JACKET, WOMAN!! AND YOU SINGED A DAMNED HOLE IN IT!!  
  
Ellen: *blinky* uh-oh...  
  
Hiei: *lunges at her and chases her all around the backstage area*  
  
Mirai Trunks and Anemone: *hovering in midair, Anemone nestled in his arms...blink at each other, blink back at Hiei and Ellen*  
  
Anneliese and Kurama: *standing on crates...diving out of the way of stray fire from Ellen's gun as she attempts to shoot at Hiei to keep him back*   
  
Anneliese: *nearly gets hit, leaps at Kurama, both stare blankly at Ellen and Hiei*  
  
Mirai Trunks: *clears throat* um...shouldn't we...do...something...? *long pause...in background: Ellen-AHHH!!! Hiei-DAMN YOU, ONNA!!! continues long pause*  
  
Anemone: I know what to do!!  
  
Kurama, Mirai Trunks and Anneliese: *turn to her*  
  
Anemone: *whips out her handy-dandy...LAPTOP!* upload the new chapter!!!  
  
Kurama and Anneliese: *anime collapse*  
  
Mirai Trunks: –_–;;   
  
Anemone: *turns to readers* bet that's what ya'll came to see, ne?  
  
Mirai Trunks: O_O *jerks out of the way of Hiei's Katana as it goes flying through the air...Anemone undisturbed in his movement as she types like hell*  
  
Anemone: okeey dokeey smokey!! All up! Fox!  
  
Kurama: Mones, now is not the ti-  
  
Anemone: -FOX!!  
  
Kurama: *long heavy sigh, turns to readers* chapter 15...enjoy...*goes wide-eyed, ducks a huge flaming paintball* go! Hurry! Before you fall victim!!   
  
Chapter 15: Danger in the Very Shadows  
  
Darkness veiled him, his distinctions lost in the shadows. His nostrils flared as he caught to a scent...looming...heavy...dangerous. He set his eyes low, and jerked to face his companions. His intentions, as theirs, was noble, and brave...and yet a twinge of fear played to his heart-strings. The emotion of the situation plagued him...scared him...haunted him. It had for nearly three decades.  
  
Fear pumped within the very core of his heart, tampering at his chest. His blood ran cold, and rushed with intensity to his head, a dramatically cold sensation flushing in the very top of his slender neck.   
  
Kurama pulsed in a heavy sigh as he flattened against the cool, smooth, stone wall. Mount Shiverku. Sensations unlike any other overwhelmed him...taunted him...intrigued him. It was temptation, the feeling that pumped to the farthest depths of his heart. A smirk wished to peak over his smooth lips...but he held it back...that was merely Yoko wishing to get his opinion across...his smirk of utter threat. The fox was awakening, was unraveling of his vine-like ties to the center of his keeper's mind. He was no longer unconscious. He was no longer held secure.   
  
In this place of memory and pain...of mental corruption...and of fear...Yoko was being steadily persuaded from his rest in Suichi's mind.  
  
The complexity of Yoko's predicament didn't dawn on the bitter Spirit Detective...he hadn't noticed the yearn to smirk with darkly narrowed eyes that had briefly caught to Kurama...but the two unmentioned had.   
  
Ryooki's nostrils flared...and he smirked a smirk identical to that of Yoko's, realizing the clever fox was but a skin layer away from surfacing. Hiei eyed Kurama narrowly, unsure if the aging humanoid could sustain the violent fox-wolf for much longer, now that Yoko was being coaxed from his banishment to the core of Suichi's brain.   
  
"Kurama?" the Koorime inquired lowly...almost threateningly. It was as if he dared Yoko to peak through, to take over...to cause the humanoid pain. Hiei was ready for anything the fox-wolf pulled if he had managed to leak to the freer plains.  
  
But his dare was left unanswered...for Yoko, allowing a single, blood-curdling smirk to brush across Kurama's angelic face, fazed back to the depths of Suichi's mind, patiently awaiting his calling.  
  
Kurama shook back, blinking stiffly, and he threw his trademark grin of solace for his partner. "Yes, Hiei?"  
  
A pause. Hiei locked ruby against emerald, and both knew that Yoko would break free soon enough...he wouldn't force it, but he would take over. They exchanged this information merely with each other's gaze...no thought, no words, no physical movement. Just a sensation that attacked them both, signaling the plain truth.  
  
"Hn..." the flame Koorime finally grunted bitterly, after jerking away to snatch at a sound he thought he had heard under the influence of his paranoid suspicions. "...can you smell him?"  
  
"Not distinctly, Hiei, no," Kurama answered faintly, sighing in defeat. "the smells surround me...my nose isn't as sharp at focusing down to a specific area as it used to be."  
  
"Hn..." Hiei practically growled, and jerked to eye his partner's brother. "...and you? Is your nose useful?"  
  
"More so than my humanoid brother's, Koorime," Ryooki smirked, quirking an eyebrow sarcastically at the aggitated demon. Hiei grunted, then calmly shrugged, pressing his stinging eyes shut.   
  
"Then make use and smell Daddy-Dearest out," Hiei snarled lowly, smirking to himself as he sensed Ryooki's expression of a threatening glare.  
  
"Yeah! I'm getting sick of this damned mountain already..." Yusuke grunted bitterly, glaring at nothing in particular. The four had managed to break through every force thrown at them, and had eased calmly into the dead mountain's gaping entrance...now, far to the bowels of the deepest caves, they dodged light and snuck in the blackest of shadows.  
  
Darkness smeared over their features, hiding their glares of determination. Ryooki's nostrils flared wide as the heavy air wafted to his lungs...and he let it loose, jutting his lip in thought. "...two wolves...our sister...and Grapko...both in that direction." he jerked his chin for a specific route, and, being offered a grunt of thanks from the flame Koorime, the four nimbly set for the darkest of shadows to lead them for the pure-breds.   
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
Ivory hands, slender and long with cat-like grace, stroked his temple. It was tense...taut...his expression pained. She drew her hand away, and it fluttered to her collarbone in awkwardness. She couldn't help but try in the least to assist him in any means. His orange hair spill disheveled over his pillow, his scalp greased in sweat from his strain. The scrappy beard about his cheeks and chin were glossed, as was his now clumped mustache, in his perspiration. The ivory hands attempting in vain to comfort and console him sank to a little bowl of tepid water, where a clothe lay sponging the soothing liquid. The caretaker of he in pain wrenched at the towel slightly, and gently lay it over his tense, reddened brow. Instantly stripes of clarity streaked his face, running smooth over his trembling features and catching in the nooks of his gnarled expression. Kuwabara's chest ached in such a way that was unimaginable, and Botan felt utterly helpless by his side. His onyx eyes were clenched shut, and refused to surface and to soothe her worried frenzy.   
  
Botan cooed a weary sigh, and layered her slender hand over her tired face. The warm-cool water of the tiny bowl to her side felt soothing against her face, and it ran over her cheek, breaking off the peak of her chin and patting at her neck. She sighed into her hand, and let it fall limp in her lap. She cast her tired raspberry gaze for the unconscious Kuwabara.  
  
In all the years she had known him...he was a brave, noble, and selfless man. A true man...never was he a boy, though he was slightly immature...he had always carried about him an air of courage...of respectability. He was a marvel...never clever, never cunning...but his heart had always led him down the righteous, honest path...he had always been there to help his friends...to support them...to keep them in line.   
  
Kuwabara...a real, worth-while man. His bravery surpassed all others...his instinct had always guided him through the lows of his life extremely well. His life was risked thousands of times...and yet he had always held the strength to keep going...to keep pushing...to keep getting better.   
  
His stubbornness and will were traits Botan had always admired and respected about him. His chances of victory...and of survival...were slimer, and fewer than those of his companions and partners...and yet he had always managed to keep pace with them, never falling too far behind...never giving up.  
  
But seeing him now...seeing him in a coma...in such indescribable pain...it stabbed at her heart. He looked fragile...breakable...human.  
  
She always forgot just how delicate he really was. With his tough talk and even tougher battles, it was easy to forget what he was...a human.   
  
Kurama, though in a stolen body of a mortal, was after all a fox-wolf...and one of the most dangerous of either breed to surface in Makai. With his wit and calculations, he was already a danger to any who dared oppose him...yet he had strength and speed to match his godly mind...he was a deathtrap.  
  
Hiei was a threat as well...having honed a creature of the darkest pits of hell as the Dragon, and with his mutated demon blood, his survival was inevitable.  
  
Yusuke was only half-human, a descendant of a hell-beast himself. He already possessed natural skill over Kuwabara.  
  
These three were born fighters, they were concieved with power already pulsing within them.  
  
But Kuwabara wasn't.  
  
He had to work at it...he had to hone his strength in such a way that other humans would have fallen victim to death far sooner than he. His ability, though inferior in the light of his comrades, was a might like non other.   
  
And he was human.  
  
There was no demon in him...there was no gift of hellish ability at his fingertips...he was a mortal, home-grown...completely and utterly human.   
  
It pained her so to see him now...how simple it was to forget his limitations...how easy it was to forget how fragile he truly was.  
  
He put on a show with his obvious strength...and for many years hid a bruised and battered heart.  
  
It pumped irregularly...violently...slowly...it fell limp in his very chest at times, but he'd wrench and scream through it...ensuring his lovely Yukina it was all merely a means of mental training.  
  
Botan brushed a long lock of amber hair from his pained face...his chest pulsed wearily up and down, and his breaths were chaffed...heavy...scratched.  
  
The bluette gently laced her fingers with his and squeezed. 'Kurama...' she thought softly. '...come back soon...'  
  
Kuwabara's breaths calmed slowly, as if the presence of another had somehow computed in his limp mind. '...Kuwabara needs you.'  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
"GAH!" Kurama snarled, collapsing into the sturdy arms of his Detective partner. Yusuke glared dangerously in the immediate direction, as Kurama rasped in his breaths. He clenched tautly to his chest, and racked in uneven inhales...his skin was snapped, and redness leaked into the fibers of his thrashed shirt. Ruby glossed in streaks over his tense hand, and he managed to cast a one-eyed glare in the attacker's direction. Sparks of pain fluttered within his singeing eyes, the one he managed to wince to exposure glaring narrowly.   
  
A smirk tightened about her face, and through the darkness was seen blatant distinctions of pride and superiority. The Hell's Shadow clicked her heels together, and licked her teeth sensually. "Come now...is that all you've got, Kurama?"  
  
He practically hissed at her, while attempting to shove Yusuke aside. He and Ryooki had both sensed her...had smelled her...but her speed surpassed Hiei's...as did her precision. The very shadows hiding them were their coffins if they slacked in their stealth...which is almost exactly what Kurama had done. Instantaneously calculations had sparked in his mind...by her physical size, which was decided by the amount of concentration her scent was strongest in, she shouldn't have been that much of a threat...she shouldn't have been that fast. Alas...she had slit him through the front, and blood and flown into the thin air like satin ribbon...hence the timing.  
  
Hiei glared dangerously at the she-Elite...and knew Kurama would most likely hold back...just for the sake that she was a female.  
  
"Don't you dare hold back, Kurama," she smirked darkly, her eyes irredescent in the darkness hiding her.   
  
"Indeed..." Hiei grunted monotonously. "...take her advice...don't hold back."  
  
Kurama stroked the air, steadying his hand behind him in a motion for silence from the Dragon and potentially both others. Ryooki's nostrils flared, but he wove his arms in a stitch over his chest, and leaned to the wall just behind. Yusuke couldn't contain himself any longer.  
  
"Kurama! You're hurt, you moron! You've gotta sit this one out...hell you've gotta sit em ALL out til Grapko! KURAMA!"  
  
Kurama jerked his glare over his shoulder...and growled viciously. Yusuke nearly collapsed in shock...for what had scared him...wasn't his companion's rigid tail lashing in annoyance...wasn't his fangs exposed unnaturally sharp...it was his eyes. They had sparked from their calm, composed emerald casings...and had stained to violent gold.  
  
Even Ryooki and Hiei pricked, the breath stolen from their immediate reach. There Kurama stood, a completely new body language about him...he had changed mentally...had succumbed to the vaster force of his demonic counterpart...physically he was still the humanoid...but his ruby mane stood rigid in the roots, and it shifted slightly in shape...his tail was violently whipping from side to side...and a smirk gnarled tauntingly to his pale lips. His eyes slit in dangerous gold, his composure warped...their stood the mentality of Yoko.   
  
"Well this isn't good..." Yusuke murmured in his somewhat stupified state.  
  
"Attack me, will you, Onna?" Kurama smirked...but it wasn't his voice to escape his coaxing lips...it was the sensual, dark, and mysterious voice of his demon half...Yoko was completely overruling Kurama.  
  
"Yeah that's definitely not good...um...Hiei...?" Yusuke motioned for the Dragon.  
  
"Hn?" came his only response...the only one Hiei cared to muster.  
  
"...did...Yoko like...force Kurama to let him take over...?"  
  
Silence met his reluctant question. Hiei's lips were pressed shut, and his eyes faceted slits of fiery ruby as he studied Kurama intently.  
  
"Hiei!"  
  
"-no, Detective..." Ryooki licked his left fang calmly, his right ear pinning against his scalp. His expression was eerily calm, his eyes shut loosely.  
  
"No? What do you MEAN no?!" Yusuke gaped.  
  
"...Kurama let Yoko out to play," Ryooki smirked, returning to his self-amusement by licking his fang. Yusuke gaped in horror...did Kurama loose it, or something?!  
  
"I'm a gentleman...so, Ladies first," Yoko smirked deviously. The she-Elite sneered in return, and lunged, steadying her claws in preparation.  
  
"This may sting!" she hissed through a smirk, but Yoko grunted sarcastically calmly, his expression dark and taunting.  
  
"It will if you can hit me," he snickered sensually as she approached.   
  
Slash, slash, slash...attempt after attempt, failure after failure...she stroke no more than air with her hellish claws. She kicked madly, punched, but her target jerked in smug ducks and smirked all the harder at her.   
  
"Perhaps defense is your forte," he sneered darkly...she pricked in fear...and was met through the stomach with a blade...Kurama had hidden the deadly shard of bamboo in his palm, having managed to wrestle it from it's confines to his hair as he ducked her pitiful attacks...now it penetrated her shadowy flesh, and the stench of blood was heavy as it leaked exposed over Kurama's milky hands. "...hmm...it seems you lack a battle forte."  
  
She hissed and growled angrily at him, and tore from his weapon...her blood streaked it in randomly placed stripes of ruby...and her stomach was completely thrashed. Yoko stood firm, not a facial expression to claim him...though still the physicality of Suichi...his eyes screamed of Yoko's return to the outer world...and Yoko caught to his humanoid-holder's lips in a dark smirk. "Now die."  
  
She pricked in utter fear, and jerked hidden behind crossed arms...Yoko's approach was her demise.  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
"Oh Kurama..." Botan sighed...her ivory face seemed milky in the moonlight...Kuwabara had managed steady his breaths a little, and the bluette was in dire need of fresh, midnight air. The others were in the back...but she needed some personal space. She stepped to the front porch, and gazed longingly into the sky...as the moon hit her lovely eyes, they stung from pink...to purple.  
  
Kurama had always enjoyed her eyes most at night...he had always told her they were all the lovelier when they darkened in sync to the night. He loved her eyes...he could gaze in them for eternity and always find something new welling within them to stroke his interest in just so a way. But when the moon glossed their color, he long to drown in them.   
  
Botan felt a redness streak over her nose at the memory of him acting sultry for the sheer presence of her eyes alone. She awkwardly touched her cheeks, and coughed primly, trying to ease from the rather personal memory.  
  
Kurama was always so good to her...he was so polite...so loving...so...perfect. His eyes put a spell on her, just as hers did to him. She couldn't bear to look away from his mesmorizing gaze...they held such immensely deep soul to them that she couldn't resist but watch them. They were so soft...gentle...just like their keeper.  
  
The bluette grew dreamy as she thought longingly of her husband...she slowly whirled in a swayed circle, a nostalgic expression plastered about her face...she hummed his favorite tune, savering the taste of the song against her tongue...suddenly, a rancid scent stung through her nostrils, and before she could make a single motion, a sturdy hand clasped over her mouth, stifling her screams.  
  
The attacker bound her arms against her side, and kicked against the floor, setting nimbly for the air. Botan wriggled and jerked hysterically, trying desperately to pry free. Suddenly, her glare darkened, and with a violently dangerous look about her face, she steadied her hands in sprawls, and conjured her trademark oar from the deepest pits of her energy. The ki stung and licked at her ivory hands...but the attacker had yet to notice...his glare, hidden in darkness, seemed focused on their direction...he had yet to realize her intentions.   
  
Suddenly, she struck him upside the face with her oar, and the sound of flesh against wood cracked into the lazy air. She collapsed from his tense bind, and both made a descend for the ground far below. But Botan was quick, and swept her oar beneath her, steadying herself in a sit. She flew lopsidedly at first, but stroked the air smoothly as her attacker collapsed for the yard...she smirked triumphantly at him...until he managed to curl in a flip, press against the ground in a nimble step, and lunge through the air straight at her.   
  
Botan pricked in fear...and screamed...her scream, heard by fox-like ears, was stifled short when the attacker's gnarled, tense fist had stabbed into her fragile stomach, vacuuming the air from her fragile reach. Her amethyst eyes bulged wide, and she collapsed limp in his arms...he smirked, victorious over this headstrong mate of his enemy.   
  
"Mother!!" Ai tore away from her companions, sprinting through the brush of the smogging forest greens...blood ran cold through her as she sensed her mother's ki...vanished from their plain of existance.   
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
Prick. Kurama froze...and his corrosively dark eyes of demonic gold...pierced emerald. He gaped, heavy breaths pulsing his chest.  
  
His victim, caught in a tight wince, could feel his troubled breathing against her brow. She blinked awkwardly up at him...and collapsed to her back, eyeing him in desperation...and utter hope.   
  
Instantly the thoughts of slaughter abandoned him...and fear pulsed his blood cold. He broke for a sprint, a strong, swelling sense overwhelming him. "Botan!!" he exclaimed, forgetting completely of the she-Elite and sparking in a sprint for the darkness beyond.   
  
Yusuke, Hiei, and Ryooki looked after him in confusion, staring blankly in his direction. Yusuke, shifting in a low sigh, broke off to follow. "Kurama! Wait up!!"  
  
Hiei and Ryooki stood in silence. The two slowly shifted to throw each other a narrow side-glance, and, both returning each other's motion with a smirk, they blurred against reality to join Kurama's spur-of-the-moment sprint.  
  
The she-Elite was abandoned...alone...alive. She sighed in relief, snickering to herself...until she felt a presence to her neck. Instantly her skin snapped and redness spilled...she collapsed a limp corpse at Ryooki's feet...who eyed her in disgust. "This time...stay dead, Syaaka."  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
"Kurama! What the hell is going ON with you?!" Yusuke scowled as he followed his companion's run.  
  
"Botan! She's in danger!" Kurama answered with a desperate, scared tone. Yusuke pricked at his companion's accusation, and pushed harder to keep in sync with Kurama's run.  
  
Hiei caught up nearly instantaneously...and he knew well of Botan's unexplained presence in Makai. "Kitsune?"  
  
"Whoever brought her here will DIE!"  
  
"Hn..." Hiei smirked. "...just like last time, ne?"  
  
"Yes! No one kidnaps MY mate and should expect to live!" Kurama growled, straining more the speed up.   
  
"Hn?" Hiei pricked, skidding to a rough stop against his blurred run. Kurama too sensed it...and, wide-eyed, eased to face a separate cavern, darker than any pit of Hell. From its deepest bowel came a low, serious moan...deadly...threatening...pissed off.  
  
"...huh? What's wrong?" Yusuke approached his two companions in confusion, having yet to realize there was a familiar ki deep within that cave.  
  
"...it...can't be...!" Kurama breathed heavily. "...can it?!"  
  
"YAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" a scream reached and boiled in their ears, gnarling a wince from each. A boom shook the remnants of Mount Shiverku that they were present in...and a huge cloud of dust tore free and vicious from the gaping entrance, choking the scream silent. Kurama, Hiei, and Yusuke ducked as the giant cloud whipped and lashed around them, chaffing their skin and rushing through their hair with the intensity of a coursing river. Dust stung to Yusuke's eyes, and he strained to cuss over the intense noise and thick masses of dust catching in his throat. Kurama and Hiei winced through it all, Kurama's back to the cloud, Hiei bracing his face with his sturdy, left arm. Enter Ryooki, just beyond the cloud's reach...dust hazed at his ankles, and an eerie breeze ruffled his mane and tail...but his distance from his companions enabled him free of the cloud's immense rage and power.   
  
As the booming cloud finally dimmed of intensity, the three dared expose their wincing, narrowed eyes for the gaping cave. A figure stumbled from the shroud of blackness around him...the scent of mutt blood stung to Kurama's nostrils, and he pricked. "KISHO!"  
  
Yusuke gaped in shock, jerking to face the wobbly figure...as the dust cleared, it was blatant the type of shape he was in...stabs through each wrist, cracks of the flesh at his ankles...and a fragment of arrow hanging from his left wrist, stuck with the dried blood that slipped from his system. Kisho's eyes swayed lazily, pain drugging his better judgement. "Check...and mate...you bastards...!" he murmured slowly...and collapsed limp to the floor.   
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
*sigh* not motivated for a skit...but...eh...anyway...ooo so the Hell's Shadow of this chappie was Syaaka...remember her? Acid-demon who fought Hiei in ftfe? Yeah well I'll explain more about that whole concept later...lol okay so they found Kisho, and Botan's been kidnapped...ooo this is getting good, ne? Yay!! Okay go review and tell me your fav parts...SRY ABOUT THE LATENESS! lol writer's block sucks...latr. 


	15. Tears of Horror

*skipping to the story today...enjoy*  
  
Chapter 16: Tears of Horror  
  
"KISHO!"  
  
A limp thud met the father's terrified cry, the bluette lost of feeling and consciousness. His sapphire hair spilled disheveled over the grooves of the dense stone floor, his brow tense. Sweat caught in the nooks of his gnarled expression, pain riddling him from the surface world.  
  
A presence skid lopsidedly for his side, breaking from speed to his knees. Kurama propped the boy against his chest, fear pulsing his blood in bitterly cold streaks through his upper neck. "Kisho! Kisho wake up! Kisho?! Kisho!"  
  
Detective and Dragon sped to the Fox's side, worry smoldering their senses. The youngest of their nephews, slipping of color to an eerily solace pale. He jerked every so often against his father's chest, spurts of redness curdling in the depths of his slender throat. A single ruby streak broke from the curl of his lips and rolled all too smoothly for his chin.  
  
"Kisho! Please Kisho, please! Wake up, son! Kisho! Please!" Kurama was caught in his cold hysterics, composure stripped from his reach as he nudged his son in gentle shakes. The bluette allowed slip a tender groan, and the Fox felt a shiver rack his boy's tense arms.  
  
Emerald jerked to ruby stained thrashes against ivory platters. Kisho's wrists were torn and seeped of slim scarlet streaks, as was his ankles. His tail sprawled limp beside his leg, dead of motion. Kurama was almost himself to a state of unconsciousness. His expression stunned, limp of it's signature composure...his voice was utterly weak and eerily gentle as he spoke the first thought to strike his mind. "Must my whole family...suffer...for this...this beast...to satisfy himself...and his utter thirst...for pointless vengeance...?"  
  
Silence wove spidery between the companions...Ryooki stood aloof, unable to see the pain his blood nephew was in...his brother's Kisho...and his own Taro...they were too much alike for him to bear.  
  
"I will KILL him!" Kurama roared, stunning Dragon and Detective slightly in his rage as he cradled his son's fragile head. His arms fell corrupt to shivers as he tightened his defensive brace against the boy. "...he kidnaped my wife...and he DARES to drag my very CHILDREN into this meaningless fray...will ever he die?!"  
  
Hiei's ruby eyes pressed shut, stabbing the cavern free of their brilliant luster. A pain beat at his heart. His daughter's dearest friend...now lay half-dead in the bowels of the demonic world.  
  
"Ryooki...!" Kurama snarled, whipping sternly over his shoulder. Yusuke took hold to the unconscious bluette as the angered red-head jerked to a stand and faced his stifled brother. "This is your arrow, isn't it?!"  
  
Silence met the rowdy accusation, Ryooki's corrosive emerald eyes stinging aside from the humanoid's equally corrosive ones. Kurama's glare burned intensely, unable to fathom how his own kin could attack another of their family. "Ryooki!"  
  
The older of the fox-wolfs whipped his poisonous glare in lock to his younger brother's. "Ryooki the scent of that arrow remnant mirrors your fingers!" Kurama roared...almost in desperation.  
  
"You accuse me of attacking your boy, Yoko?" Ryooki snorted, clicking his attention away. "Hardly...that boy pains me to look at him...let alone harm him."  
  
"You son of a bitch he's only FIFTEEN!" Yusuke kicked against the floor, racing to Ryooki in his senseless rage. The Detective curled his tense grip into the demon's collar, shaking him firmly. "He's only fifteen!!"  
  
Ryooki calmly shut his eyes, unable to absorb the anger swelling his brother's ki. Hiei examined the youth's injuries, sensing taints in his young blood. 'Dear God no...' he thought softly as he caught whiffs of demonic poison. "What type of archer allows the deadliest of his hoards to be violated?" the Dragon glared dangerously at the tired, guilt-ridden, yet guilt-free Ryooki.  
  
"Could it be helped?! Hardly, you punks..." Ryooki countered with stunningly thin eyes, ripping the Detective's grip from his shirt front and shoving him straight for the angered Kurama. The humanoid kitsune instantly bound against Yusuke, jerking him from his fall and flashing an almost golden glare for his brother.  
  
"How could it not be helped?! You guard your arrows with you very life, Ryooki!" the humanoid spat in vicious return. Ryooki's mane ruffled in his rage, unable to set the words and screams to his spiteful tongue.  
  
"Dare you accuse my defense skills, LITTLE brother?! Grapko himself stripped me of my arrows!" Ryooki seethed bitterly in return, the conscious comrades pricking in realization. "He obviously supplied my most lethal of my hoards to his little bastard shadows..." he cursed himself for having ever left his beloved mate, his mother...and his dear little Taro.  
  
Kisho pulsed violently against Hiei's chest, spitting a large clot of gel-like blood. Hiei pricked, awkwardly trying to soothe the youth awake. Shadows painted over Kisho's shut eyes, stabbing intimidation to his young face...a glaze of intimidation only known to strike Kurama under a veil of bangs.  
  
Kurama whirled around in desperation to embrace the boy, dragging him from the Dragon's loose hold against his own front. His right hand cupped about the boy's scalp and held it tenderly against his chest, his left arm draped about Kisho's limp shoulders. "Ryooki...by what means can we heal him?!"  
  
"He must bleed the poison tainting him," Ryooki sighed faintly, meeting intense gapes of rage and fear from all three of his companions.  
  
"He's already half-dead from the blood loss!" Kurama countered in desperation, a cold sensation plaguing his neck as he jerked to gape over his shoulder. "...if he keeps bleeding he'll die!"  
  
"I'm not the doctor you are, Yoko," Ryooki growled slowly. "...but the only means of saving your dear son is to bleed the poison from his circulation."  
  
Kurama pricked, staring wide-eyed at his cold brother. He gently cradled the boy into Hiei's hold yet again, the Dragon binding to him defensively. The humanoid quickly stood, approaching his sibling with his lost senses.  
  
"The poison has pulsed all through him! He cannot bleed it all out, he'll die, brother! Please, there must be another way!" Kurama collapsed to his knees, grasping hold to Ryooki's arms and pressing his forehead to his insensitive hand. The humanoid's eyes burned as tears threatened to break against the glorious emerald of his morbidly desperate glare. Ryooki blinked awkwardly at his emotional brother.  
  
"...Yoko..." he breathed softly, realizing Kurama wasn't about to let any of his immediate kin to die before his father was annihilated. The older pulled away in thought, and threw a glance for the unconscious bluette. The question to break against his lips seemed more a tired statement. "...is his immune system stable...?"  
  
Kurama pricked, jerking up to eye the fox-wolf in utter, pure hope. Hiei and the Detective did likewise, yearning for his lighter tone to signal a means to keep hoping for Kisho's recovery.  
  
"Yes...yes he's the healthiest of his generation," Kurama nodded quickly, shifting to a stand beside his brother.  
  
"Hmm..." the hybrid breathed reluctantly, examining the youth with a glare so unbearably intense, the Dragon felt Kisho stir with an icy sensation under his uncle's inspection. "...perhaps...he, could...survive it..."  
  
Kurama pricked, jerking wide-eyed for the currently calmer of the siblings. "Survive what?!"  
  
"Perhaps...if we were to sew his open wounds together...his own system would be able to kill the poison afflicting him...maybe even build him a life-long immunity against demonic poisons targeted for animal breeds..." Ryooki was deep within his thoughts, trying to calculate the chances.  
  
"Why didn't you suggest that before, you dick-wad?!" Yusuke nearly lunged at the fox-wolf in blind rage, before Kurama bound at his arm, stifling the overgrown-punk's attack. Kurama threw an intensely narrow glare for his brother to take as stern note.  
  
"Indeed, Ryooki...why did you wait?"  
  
"If his immune system isn't strong enough, sewing the open wounds shut will cut off access to extra oxygen for his thrashed circulation and the poison will be trapped within him to kill him faster," Ryooki countered gravely. The Detective pricked in fear. The Dragon grunted in frustration. And the Father's eyes pressed shut in despair as he too calculated the chances of his son's survival.  
  
Coming up with a solution a tenfold quicker than his demonic brother, Kurama breathed the almost sinful words through parched, saddened lips. "...he's only a 12% chance of survival against untimely death of poisoning...the amount to pump through him was connected directly to the vital organs..."  
  
"...and with four of my arrows to pierce into his system," Ryooki murmured.  
  
"...direct links to the heart and brain were tainted with heavy concentrations of poison..." Kurama sighed in grief. "...and despite his impeccable health..."  
  
"...his waste of Spirit Energy in his reckless escape...narrows his chances from a might-have-been 30/70 ratio-"  
  
"-to 12%."  
  
Silence hazed them in haunting thickness. Hiei looked down at the youth with pain striking the glorious ruby of his glare. 'He's too young for a near-death experience...' the Dragon thought painfully, denial blocking him from admitting...that a near-death experience would be an utter miracle at this point.  
  
This boy brought out the deepest of the former generation. He was the most original of any, and he knew it. He wasn't too alike with a parent to scare outsiders of the tight-knit families. He was the youngest...the most reckless...the newest to the violence to haunt his father and elders for their entire lives.  
  
Only fifteen...funny for the Detective to have said so in such a way...he was but fourteen when he died...his life was cut short, severed in one second's fraction of blinding, skull-crushing pain. He drowned in blood that heartbeat's time, his nostrils sponged in redness beyond breathing. And yet, despite the pain he endured before even his fifteenth birthday...he still saw this boy, with both parents, a sister, and a group of friends to watch over him, as too young to die.  
  
Kisho could always dig deeper into their souls and thoughts...unlike his dearest friends, Ryuu and Kane, he did so with his wolf-like senses, not an overdeveloped mind privileged with a third glare. He wasn't a genius like Ai...he wasn't intimidating like Yukio...and he wasn't violent like Gakilei.  
  
He was Kisho, his own take on his own personality...his pain struck numbness to his father's tongue...and struck tears to his father's eyes. Any of those children could have brought Kurama to his knees in begging for their lives to be spared...but the only other one let Kisho to have made him done so with such intense desperation would have only been Ai.  
  
Kurama slowly caught to Kisho's thrashed wrists, examining them with low, gentle eyes. His velvet touch had yet to compute in his son's limp mind, and he continued with mercury grace and silence. The skin bubbled from exposure, the blood crusted around the edges of the gashes. The cores of every wound pumped with scorching redness, heat pulsing within him in rabid strokes.  
  
Kurama almost winced at the sight of his snagged, corrupted wrists. The humanoid slowly motioned for the Dragon to lay the boy's head against the ground and examine his ankles to check of their state.  
  
Hiei did so reluctantly, setting the bluette's skull against the bushiest mass of his own sapphire mane. The Dragon then blurred for the youth's legs, and slowly went to examine them. Alike the wrists in damage, both corrupted with bubbling edges and intensely heated blood.  
  
Yusuke watched on earnestly, unable to help by any means. Ryooki stood aloof, unable to approach this accursed boy...this human-demon youth to look so identical to Taro.  
  
Kurama stroked a sprawled hand against the roughness of his bushy mane, and retracted a delicate root, thin with length enough to stitch the wounds from exposure. Along with it he snagged loose a needle-like thorn, thin enough to penetrate the ivory of his boy's skin without leaving too large of snags.  
  
The humanoid paused, and with delicate eyes, looked over his son a last time before their potentially vain attempt to rescue him. "Kisho.........forgive me." He begged with a slow, calm voice, before stabbing against Kisho's flesh with a treaded needle.  
  
'This root can absorb taints in circulatory systems for humans...' the father thought as he threaded the gaps in the skin together. '...perhaps a good amount of the poison in his system will be sponged out of him, at least enough so that he can kill off the rest of the poison that would still lock to his system...' Kurama's eyes slowly went grave as sincerity of the situation kicked in. '...but this hybrid plant-root I developed was designed for human use...Kisho's demonic as well as human...a 50/50 ratio exists it won't work, and his system denies it............Kisho...'  
  
A slight wince caught to the boy's fragile face, crystalline beads pulsing to his temples. Kurama worked steadily, sensing stings to strike the youth with every pause the humanoid took in his work.  
  
Hiei watched on with cold eyes, unable to fathom emotion to the surface. Yusuke leaned against a far wall, fear zapping his energy. Ryooki stood beyond sensing Kisho's flinches...but the heavy scent of the youth's mut-blood haunted his hybrid lungs.  
  
Twenty minutes, and the four wounds were seamed shut. Blood stained the stitches, and caught in the grooves of Kurama's slender fingertips. The red-head examined the youth intently.  
  
"Kurama?" Yusuke piped meekly.  
  
"Too soon to tell..." Kurama countered...almost in a coarse, quiet bark. He watched over his son defensively, cursing himself for having ever left his family alone in the human world without his protection.  
  
"My beloved Botan...my dear Kisho...will Ai fall victim next?...or will her training...be enough...?" the humanoid stated slowly, flavor in his tone distinct to only a few pitches.  
  
Hiei and Ryooki closed their eyes, Ryooki of grief, and Hiei of respect.  
  
Yusuke was the only one to counter his partner's lacking faith. "Kurama, Ai's gonna be fine...she can totally hold her own...in fact, I bet she's gonna try to help us."  
  
Silence met Yusuke's dare of a statement. Fear ran the Detective's blood cold...he realized what he said all too late...and what scared him was Kurama's response...or lack thereof. Yusuke meekly stifled himself and his crude tongue, allowing Kurama to study the pained Kisho in silence.  
  
Suddenly, a prick ran their spines, and the four jerked to face the newest opponent...male...Ryooki's height...a breed unlike any of mortal demons...Hiei grunted slightly, a snarl distorting his grit teeth.  
  
The concentration of the Shadow's aura was stunningly dense, his strengths pure and true. He smirked through the darkness, the distinctions spraying visible with his cockiness...but cockiness well supported.  
  
"I see you found the nuisance Reaper," the newest villain sneered, glancing corrosively at the unconscious bluette. Kurama, by now standing, dove in a defense stance in front of his motionless son, glaring emerald daggers in the Shadow's direction.  
  
"You leave my son alone," Kurama's voice nearly matched that of his demon counterpart's. The threat curdled in the depths of his throat, and stung narrow glares to his eyes. The emerald glinted viciously, the rabid intensity of his wolf ancestry racking through.  
  
"Oooh..." the Shadows smirked. "...Daddy Dearest is a tad defensive, isn't he?"  
  
"Shut up!" Yusuke lunged whole-heartedly for the Shadow, lost of any scrap of composure his character could ever muster. "Just shut up, you asshole!"  
  
He sped with a rabid intensity, and stabbed blow after blow for the Shadow. The Elite was obviously, for once, worthy of his title, melting against air as he smoothly avoided the Detective's every attempt. He jerked from side to side, ever smirking, ever stifling ridiculing laughter. Yusuke pounded harder with every passing second, never faltering, and ever stubborn.  
  
The creature whipped in mad positions, sneering smugly. With his fist gnarled tense, he struck upside Yusuke's head, denting into the skull and racking the punk from consciousness. His eyes were stunned wide, taut in stricken pain. He fell limp, collapsing to the floor with a clatter of his limbs to stone. His hair fell disheveled over his tight expression, slapped in pain. The Detective lay, defenseless...unconscious.  
  
Kurama and Hiei pricked instantly in sync to the creature's swipe at their partner. The Dragon blurred against air, stabbing his form in a sprint for his fallen comrade. He slit his leg into the air, about to link his heel to the villain's jaw...when the demon jerked away, and thrust for Hiei's midriff.  
  
His taut knuckles stabbed against the Dragon's tense abs, Hiei growling in frustration. With a blur of his bandaged arms, he snapped the hilt of his trademark weapon against it's raven sheath, ripping it fresh and exposed. It's glossy pearl surface blinded the Shadow, who snarled a dreadful snort and tumbled for the darkness of a rock's crevice.  
  
Hiei raced against time with his demonic sprint, blurring into the air with an insanity about his footing. The silver glare of his weapon slit the air, driving a mad glint of heinous platinum about the Shadow's blinded expression. Hiei stabbed for the ever vulnerable region between the eyes, thrusting with a spurt of ki to jerk all the more power in his attack.  
  
Suddenly, he jerked back, a sense having swelled his Jagon dramatically. His spine curled, his midriff just grazed with slicing attempt. Kurama whipped to face Hiei's new attacker, a twin Shadow, and holder to a raven-pearled Katana. Hiei had barely escaped a true injury, and was left with a senseless graze against his flesh. A slight twinge of redness escaped the gap, sponging greedily to the fibers of his now torn shirt. The Dragon growled, thrusting his spine in a distorted curve as he jerked in a flip from the twin attackers.  
  
"Ganging up on me? How honorable," he smirked sarcastically.  
  
Silence as the duo lunged for the Dragon. He jerked and whipped in mad positions, his spine racked in such a way only seen by felines. "Kitsune! Get Kisho and the Detective out of here!"  
  
Kurama paused, his tail ruffling sternly.  
  
"Do it!!" Hiei barked, stifling a Katana swipe with one of his very own. He struck to the opponent's hilt with the blunt edge of his blade, the flash of brilliance in its surface soaking intensely in the single blink. The Dragon whipped his Katana in mad directions, each swipe to stifle and counter the armed Shadow's attempt. The twin clawed for the Dragon's stomach and heart, Hiei forced to defend twice and offend none.  
  
Kurama flashed a last emerald saturated glare for his partner, struggling against two Hell's Shadows, and, with a silent eye-lock against Ryooki's tense leer, he hoisted Kisho against his shoulder, and prepared to drag Yusuke from his limp position against the floor. Kurama sprinted for the darker bowels of Mount Shiverku yet to be violated by his presence, two flaccid persons gripping to their last threads of life strung over his sturdy shoulders.  
  
Ryooki's ears pinned against the crown of his head, and with a final snarl, he lunged against air for the Dragon's side, instantly stabbing a tense kick for the first Shadow's darkness-veiled jaw. Ryooki and Hiei subconsciously pressed their backs together as they prepared their opponents' coming attempt. Both smirked, both waited...both glared threatening daggers for their assigned demon. Though their partnership was temporary, and their fighting styles didn't mesh in such a way as Kurama and Hiei...they seemed fit to battle with only the other as their backup.  
  
The duo Shadow's dove for the two smirking demons, a black blade piercing for Hiei's slender throat, and a set of claws for Ryooki's collarbone.  
  
"Ready?" Ryooki smirked over his shoulder, his tail slapping against air and ruffling at the deepest core of the roots.  
  
"Hn," Hiei sneered in return, his smirk gloriously deep and his eyes lustrously thin with flaming auras of their very own. The duo stood calm, composure about their limbs and eerily solace gleams about their eyes. Each attacker slit against time and air for their target, ripping the wind to shreds with severed fibers.  
  
Hiei and Ryooki bowed low in stance, and stood ready for anything.  
  
The armed of the twins lashed a stunningly well-placed slice of his Katana for the Dragon's shaggy spikes, and swore he felt Hiei's skin penetrate and skull fall corrupt under his attack. With a prick, he found his hope and expectation a lie...and with a blink...found the solace of death.  
  
Hiei, blurred against reality with no more than jags of aura to show for his timely absence, was in midair in sync to his opponent...behind him. The blade of his Katana snagged against flesh, bone, and tissue, and with a jerk of the hilt, the corpse fell to a clatter against the stone floor.  
  
Ryooki too handled the threat with simplicity and ease, sprawling his animal-like hands brisk and wide, and catching the attack in each broad palm. The creature's claws snapped on impact to the hybrid's flesh, Ryooki having pulsed his hands with extra throbs of intense ki. The Shadow merely pricked in fear, before Ryooki stifled the sensation short with a single blow against his sternum. The Shadow collapsed just as limp as Hiei's toy, and the two smirked in silence, each impressed with the other's ability.  
  
Suddenly, a jerking sense caught to their noses, and the acute scent of roses burst against the dank caverns. The duo whipped for the aroma, and with even their dagger eyes, they just barely caught the sight of a defensive Kurama, lashing with all his zestful might against the dank air with a stunning whip, snagged with diamond-tip thorns.  
  
A target hit, where the darkness couldn't cast a silhouette. A scream snapped against air with the precision and intensity of Kurama's lash, and with a jerk of his slender wrist, he ripped a triplet from hiding, into the only slightly distinction of light between his crevice to the exposed cavern. Frantic pulses pumped cold chills of frozen blood through his upper neck, the last thing in his sight being Kurama's ferociously merciless countenance.  
  
The fox tore his victim through the air, the Elite snagged to his weapon by loose flesh. Fear bubbled in his eyes as he ripped against the air, jerked from his spot to the ceiling...and piercing straight for a Kurama pulsed with rabid rage.  
  
Hidden in his recessive hand...lay a shard of bamboo, nestled comfortably to his smooth palm. Kurama's stance bowed low as the creature was dragged through midair straight for potential impact. The glorious whip surrounded him on all sides, the thorns grazing against his mane. A breath's distance was the triplet Shadow, and Kurama caught the final whiff of cold blood within his neck. The fox lunged his free arm in a jerk, pulsing a violent throb of ki into the bamboo shard snug to his hand.  
  
Flesh tore, ripping in blood-boiling silence. Veins popped...tissue unraveled...and blood cracked loose, spraying into the air and playing in ribbons as it burned with exposure. Kurama's hands fell victim to stain, redness coursing in spurts to his knuckles and fingertips. The fox glared stolid daggers of emotionless, stark emerald, flicks of platinum snagging at their color.  
  
Kurama jerked free, watching in disgust as the disgraceful corpse collapsed flaccid against the floor. With a spurt of ki, his aura concentrated for his hand, the energy sprayed the blood from his ivory flesh, and the redness staining his skin disintegrated against reality.  
  
Hiei and Ryooki blinked awkwardly to their keen, cold-blooded partner...and smirked. Kurama's expression remained solid with sincerity. "I do wish to rescue my mate and sister before the day is out and they fall victim to insanity," he practically growled, flashing eyes unlike those of Suichi for his comrades...flecks of gold stained in their deepest cores. "...let us go."  
  
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Damn! Long chapter...phew...okay review please and tell your fav part...oh, btw...I LOVE LONG REVIEWS!! lol like REALLY long!! haha with that in mind...venture forth and review my ingenius *yeah right* work lol...latr!!! 


	16. Intensity

*front stage of p3...all the customers are dancing and clubbing and having fun...until five screams sound from behind the curtain, Mirai Trunks tearing through and flying into the club in fear with Anemone in his arms...Kurama and Anneliese run after him for their lives, and Ellen leaps off the stage as a HUGE darkness dragon-ki blast goes plowing for her...crowd starts screaming...except the drunk customers, who think it's all a neato trick...ironically, it's the drunk ones who get in Kurama's way*  
  
Kurama: *running through crowd* excuse me-! Oh, pardon me-! Ouch! Goodness, I apologize-! Hey I-oh, sorry! Excuse me, sir! Miss...ow!! Miss you're um...you're touching me in a very inappropriate w-AY!!! *yelps as he's grabbed in a rather shocking way, jerks around to try and find where the source of inappropriate contact went* Where'd she go?!   
  
Anneliese: *grabs his shoulder, yanks him from the crowd* c'mon, loverboy! Hiei's gonna torch this pop-stand...!  
  
Ellen: SAVE ME!! *scrambles frantically away from a very pissed Hiei*  
  
Mirai Trunks: *pauses in midair* we should wait for the others...*looks back searching for Kurama and Anneliese*  
  
Anemone: *wriggles against his chest* I WANNA SEE THE DAMAGE HIEI'S AFFLICTING!!  
  
Mirai Trunks: *raised eyebrow*  
  
Anemone: *keeps wriggling, failing miserably in trying to escape his hold*  
  
Mirai Trunks: –_–;;  
  
Anemone: *gives up, flaps limp in his arms, negative mumbles*  
  
Mirai Trunks: *rolls eyes, turns to crowd* Kurama!! Anneliese!!   
  
Anneliese: *dragging Kurama through the crowd with no remorse for others...right under where Mirai Trunks is floating* YO! Where are you guys?!  
  
Kurama: *points* they're up th-mpm!! *elbowed in the head as Ellen shoves through to escape Hiei's wrath*  
  
Ellen: HE'S GONNA KILL ME! *leaps into Kurama's arms when she realized it was him, thinking she'll be safe from Hiei*  
  
Kurama: O_O –*thud*   
  
Anneliese: –_–;;  
  
Anemone: *slaps face* *Kurama slowly manages to stand up with Ellen in his arms*  
  
Mirai Trunks: *groan* people! We have to get out of here! *BAM!*   
  
All: *slowly turn to stare in horror at whatever Hiei did now*   
  
*entire stage of p3 completely on fire...green fire...Hiei slowly comes walking from the depths of the enormous flame*  
  
Hiei: *freakishly calm* my Father gave me that jacket, Onna...before I was banned from my island...  
  
Ellen: *gulp, crouches in Kurama's hold*  
  
Kurama: ^_^;; Hiei-  
  
Hiei: -*roar*  
  
All: O_O;;  
  
Kurama: *shifty eyes* er...  
  
Hiei: *glares dangerously at Ellen* that Onna...ruined my most prized possession-  
  
Ellen: -I broke your Katana?!  
  
Hiei: *glare* No, Onna! You ruined my jacket in that blind rage of yours!!   
  
Anemone: *whisper* speaking of blind rages...  
  
Hiei: *instinctive ki blast at Mones*  
  
Mirai Trunks and Anemone: AH!! *Mirai Trunks dodges, ceiling completely demolished*  
  
All: O_O;;;;  
  
Hiei: *glares dangerously at Kurama*  
  
Kurama: Hiei...erm...I'm sure Ellen didn't, 'mean', to ruin your jacket...  
  
Hiei: *glares deeper*  
  
Kurama: er...  
  
Anemone: *heavy annoyed sigh* okay that's freakin' IT! *grabs hilt of Mirai Trunks's sword, chucks it at Hiei* take that, Morb!!   
  
Mirai Trunks: GAH?! Mones! My sword!!   
  
Hiei: *hilt knocks against his head...collapses unconscious*  
  
All: O_O?! *gawk at Anemone*  
  
Anemone: :D  
  
Mirai Trunks: –_–;;...  
  
Hiei: *drool*  
  
Anneliese: um...now that that's uh...kind of settled...  
  
Kurama: *struggles to put a reluctant Ellen down* indeed...  
  
Anemone: yeah Ellen I think you're safe now...  
  
Ellen: *glares suspiciously at Hiei*  
  
Kurama: *rolls eyes, puts her down*  
  
Mirai Trunks: *sarcasm* what a fulfilling day...we practice for a gig, get some Burger King, play the p3...we get attacked by Ellen...and then by Hiei...*eyebrow raise at Kurama and Anneliese* anyone ELSE wanna turn on the group and try to kill us...?  
  
Kurama and Anneliese: *awkward laughter* ^_^;;...  
  
Kurama: Mones? Shall I introduce the chapter?  
  
Anemone: *whips out laptop, starts typing* rightio, red...talk away...  
  
Kurama: *turns to few readers who weren't scared away* Chapter 17, enjoy.   
  
Chapter 17: Intensity   
  
A dense clatter rang against air. Fists...the flesh and bone snapping against the brink of a wall...frustration stripped her of composure...anger swelled her aura jagged...and fear ruffled her tail in rippled sways. Raspberry eyes glossed over in crystalline sheens, narrowed in determined casings. The she-fox beat her fists again against the wall, unable to fathom the downward spiral her entire family had been vacuumed towards.  
  
"...mother..." she whispered tenderly, collapsing against her arms and into the wall. She pulsed tiredly, sobs racking her spine. "...what can I do? I felt Ryooki's aura...his power overwhelmed my very senses..."  
  
Fear jerked her glare to be sprawled wide, white rings blatant around the stunning raspberry of her eyes. "...if he fears Grapko...how strong is the wolf, really...?"  
  
Again her fist stabbed to the brick wall...again her impact dented to its surface. "WHY?! WHY DID THIS HAVE TO HAPPEN?!" she screeched in frustration, stabbing her spidery fingers to her scalp and wrenching at her hair. Ai collapsed to her knees, and broke in her utter confusion. "Mother...!" she moaned against her tears, her face cradled tenderly in her slender hands.   
  
Behind the wall, in a counter room...Yukio winced tiredly, unable to fathom the pain his best friend was ensnared in. Gakilei leaned against Kane, her form cold as fear stroked her adrenaline through her mind. The mint-haired apparition held her loosely, cradling his cheek to her wild scalp. Ryuuhayai stood segregated, refusing to listen to her dearest friend's screams of mental torment...the she-Dragon let a looming wind embrace her ebony spikes, and her fierce ruby glare tightened narrow as slits of flame beat in their depths.   
  
Ai growled...as only foxes do...jerked to a stand, rowdy, a wild look about her usually, eerily calm face.   
  
"My father...strongest of his generation...fears this beast...and I, even more of a hybrid than he...have no chance to even live to see the dawn of morrow."  
  
She glared intense, raspberry daggers against air, nothing truly in her sights. The fox's tail lashed in whip-like jerks, stinging the air with a tense presence...her anger shifted the fur to stand upright, to burn in the follicles...she breathed in deathly pulses of her aggravation...silver sheens tore from the edges of her murderous eyes, streaking her face in burning tears.  
  
"...yet I cannot allow this to happen," she growled. Alone she stood, the darkness of night playing to the shadows of her slender silhouette. "...Kisho...Mother, Hiei..." a pause as her bottom lip quivered, another wash of warmth streaking her face to an almost singeing point. "...Father..."  
  
A fierce snarl of her determination. "They will not be alone!...I won't let any of my loved ones die..." and a breath of a smirk wafted against her ruby lips. "...not until I'm too dead to protect them."   
  
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Raspberry bobbed groggily, and a coo of confusion escaped into the air. Voids of darkness engulfed her, and all that was heard was a loud "GOD DAMMIT!!"  
  
Botan hissed to herself, clawing at her slim wrists. Shackles clenched skin-tight, tense and crusted with aged red. She growled in utter irritation, and cursed her weakness.  
  
"I HATE being kidnaped!!" she muttered angrily, collapsing to a mesh in the cavern wall that almost conformed for her particular shape. "It's the most...!!...suckiest thing!!!"   
  
"Indeed...it is a bit of a hassle, isn't it?"   
  
Botan pricked, jerking instinctively for the voice...it was female...gentle...almost...in pain.   
  
"No need to fret...heh...I fear that...I'm in as much danger as you, my friend..." Botan sensed a cooling sensation about the speaker's aura. She blinked awkwardly for it's source...her nimble eyes caught to a calm silhouette...chained against the jagged stone, in such a way as herself. The frail, fragile light that managed to sneak against darkness and hit the speaker's face held a warming glow to her soft exterior. Sapphire glints caught about her light-drenched cheek, her skin seeped of natural color and glowing with a creamy, almost snow blue. Silver locks escaped her scalp in flawless spikes, glowing with platinum sheens.  
  
"...who are you...?" Botan asked with a quirked expression. A soft, gentle, almost Yukina-like chuckle pierced against the darkness, flawless in deliverance despite being nearly chaffed.   
  
"No one of importance, my friend."  
  
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"How is he?" chocolate scanned over thrashed ivory drenched in wet ruby. Yusuke winced slightly at his nephew's condition, and saw the pain burrow deep against the emerald of his partner's deadly glare. The Detective, though tainted with a slight concussion, had managed to weasel against his state of unconsciousness and break to reality...Kisho wasn't as fortunate.  
  
"...he's still breathing..." Kurama racked in a steady sigh...the sliver of Yoko to burn and bubble against his flesh had suppressed itself back in his mind's core, and Suichi was yet again in major control. His voice was dry, cracked with emotion and fear. "...what can I do? We can't leave Kisho here...but we must continue, without risking him a field of danger..."  
  
Demonic emerald watched the youth in pain, examining Kisho's every ached and gnarled feature. '...too much like Taro...'   
  
"Hn...we do have to keep forward..." the Dragon husked against the uncomfortable setting. "Perhaps if a one of us were to guard the boy?"   
  
Silence met the dare of a suggestion...the Koorime bid it all the further. "...your mate needs you, Kitsune."  
  
A flick of silver against air...Kurama's tail lashed in vivid whips, the Koorime's last words, gentle, chaffed, and soft as they were, sped a rush of sensitive anger through the Fox's upper neck, a cold spur.   
  
"...as does your sister."  
  
Ryooki too flinched in pain, emotionally reminiscing the infant she-wolf he had once held...over fifty years ago. That child...now a woman, a mate...a mother. His sister...her personality...her very looks...still a mystery for his mind to compute...a pure-bred she-wolf, raised by an Ice clan...what of her? Would she be calm and mentally free? Or corrupt...a danger? A physical marvel...or unique in no sense? Yet no matter the confusion...both he, and the former Yoko, felt instinctive needs to protect her.  
  
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"Ai! You can't do this!" Yukio urged against reason...against chance...the headstrong red-head refused to take his words to heart, as she stalked nimbly along in search for the closest portal for the demonic world.   
  
"Indeed, Minamino...listen to Urimeshi...for once," the morbid of the group practically hissed from her snatch to the tree overhead. Branches hid her shadowy exterior well, blending her to the blackness of the night. Moon hit her raven locks, dusting a platinum sheen to the caught surface.  
  
"My entire family is in the demon world, and the majority is being held captive!" Ai snarled over her slender shoulder.  
  
"But AI..." Gakilei whined. "You're gonna DIE...!"  
  
"No I'm not...!"  
  
"Yeah you are!" Kane whined in sync to the she-Detective. The fox growled, ignoring the every attempt thrown at her to hold her back...until three impacts stabbed against her, jerking at the bone and jabbing her startled form to the concrete below.  
  
Ryuuhayai pricked at the sight, stifling a cold, morbid snicker. Ai lay sprawled against the ground, blinking awkwardly at the three sources of her rather inappropriate position. Kane bound about her slim waist, his cheek against her jagged hip as he stroked against her, almost purring for her to stop and think the situation through. Gakilei struggled to pinch her legs together, the punk glaring threateningly. Yukio had her to the stomach, gazing steadily into her very soul with eyes concentrated in symbolic acid. A mad blush crept over the slope of her delicate nose as her three friends urged her to stay safe in the human world. Kane whined...Gakilei moaned...and Yukio urged with an almost disciplinary tone.  
  
"PLEASE DON'T GO!!" Kane moaned in fear.  
  
"You're not gonna go and be stupid!!" Gakilei hissed, struggling to keep the she-fox's kicks calm.  
  
"You're staying here, and that is final!!" Yukio glared lowly.   
  
The she-Dragon was caught in mad torrents of laughter, snagged in her glee at the sight. Ai let her head collapse against the ground, giving up and easing limp under the weight of her companions. Her expression set in frustration as the trio practically yelled at her.  
  
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"Oh come now...I'm sure that isn't true at all! You've got to be someone worth while!" Botan countered sternly...her accusation was met with an innocent, calm chuckle.  
  
"I'm not."  
  
"But...if you were kidnaped, you must be important..." the bluette deduced with a pout of thought. She pricked, and smiled. "Do you by any chance know a Ryooki?"  
  
Silence as Botan's companion drifted in her lost memories. "...no, not a one."  
  
Botan whimpered in her failed attempt, and pricked yet again. "...how about a Suichi?"   
  
"Afraid not, my friend."   
  
"...Yoko...?"  
  
At this the fellow prisoner pricked, and jerked her sapphire glare to lock against Botan's hopeful raspberry one. "Surely you do not mean...the legendary, Yoko of Thieves?!"  
  
"Yes!" Botan squealed in glee. "You know him?!"  
  
"You do?!"  
  
"Well, I'd hope so," Botan drew away smugly, stroking her tongue across the pearly surface of her upper teeth. Sapphire blinked in confusion, the bluette pricking and giggling awkwardly, realizing her sensual behavior towards the thought of her mate.   
  
"I know not the thief personally...but his legend is one even those of my adoptive clan can recite by heart! My word, my friend! Yoko of Thieves is the most famous creature of the demonic realm! For a one to utter question to his legend only proves their little education!"   
  
Botan blinked awkwardly...was her mate...her darling Kurama...truly that legendary?   
  
"Then...if you don't know either of them...why were you kidnaped here?" the bluette inquired slowly, almost unable to form the shy words tangible to the tongue.  
  
Silence met the question, her new companion meshing against the darkness around her. "I've no idea, my friend."   
  
"What's your name?" Botan asked softly, bobbing innocent raspberry for her companion's direction. The prisoner smiled gently, and breathed an almost too calming tone.  
  
"Vankra."   
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
"Was leaving the Detective with the boy a good idea?" Ryooki snuffed, a slow whiff wrinkling his nose as his tense arms wove across his chest. A pulse throbbed his taut neck, and his ear flicked against his ruby scalp. Ryooki glared narrow emerald daggers for his humanoid brother and the morbid flame Koorime.  
  
"...the Detective has aged in such a way that has stifled his greatest potentials..." Hiei countered softly. "...but he is still capable of guarding an unconscious youth until he awakes."   
  
Kurama stifled his usually witty tongue, a calm almost too eerie for even him overtaking his senses. A tense glare struck against his eyes, and he gazed acidic emerald to the bowels of darkness engulfing him.   
  
Ryooki snorted, his flesh tingling against the sensation of a crackling aura...invisible licks of energy snagged around his brother's tense form, Kurama's glare faceting with burning specks of gold. The hybrids could sense the other's intense emotion...Kurama was mad with rage and irrationality, a trait unheard of for his humanoid character.  
  
"...Yoko..." Ryooki sighed, drawing his breaths to himself. Kurama chose to ignore his brother's efforts, and strode with steps fueled in corrosive rage.  
  
'Botan...' his thoughts quivered with bitter lips, trembling in feigned bravery. '...how could I have allowed you alone with such harm easily afflicted to you?!' a slow, tight blink forced the emerald of his eyes to click from the darkness around them, depriving the cavern of their nostalgic glimmer. '...our son has been dragged into this...yet I continue onward...not knowing if Kisho will even survive...' pain jerked his breaths, his mentality weakening. '...why do I delay the inevitable? Do I even? Will I die here...without laying eyes on you again?'  
  
'Suichi...' a brash, yet calming tone echoed within the bowels of Kurama's thoughts. *a/n: okay now we're in Kurama's head...one of his schizophrenic moments ^_^;;;...it's like the two of them standing talking, kinda like one of Yugi's moments when he starts talking to Yami and everything's blurry lol...*  
  
'Hm?' Kurama blinked, jerking over his slender shoulder.  
  
An angelic figure, whiter than snow with platinum to highlight his demonic traits. Twin gold slits set in the shadowed face, narrowed with the drama of the situation. Navy and crystalline mist licked against his slim ankles, rolling in satin tufts. An eerie, soulless breeze stroked his mane, and the triplet tails to whip and lash after him. An air of wispy, soothing motion embraced around his slender face, the shadow breaking way to light. A stern, serious countenance to meet the humanoid, and there stood his alter-ego, the figure concentrated with legendary proportions. Yoko of Thieves.   
  
"Yoko..." Suichi sighed, a tired, strained attempt towards a smile catching to gnarl his reluctant lips.  
  
"Don't try to craft me, Suichi...I know well your pains," Yoko barked in a gruffly relaxing tone. "...our son is dying."  
  
Suichi bowed his head, the loose ruby locks casting shadows of sadness over the grooves of his face. "...indeed, Yoko."  
  
"If he is our son, he will not give in until the greatest of his strengths is dried," Yoko attempted, his voice almost a hopeful coo with it's trademark rasp.   
  
"...I can only pray...Kisho will live..." Suichi groaned softly, Yoko's ears flicking against the crown of his head at the sensitive vocal pricks they caught.  
  
"...the Detective is with him...we must now worry of Botan," Yoko husked briskly, almost in denial of Kisho's chances...though his mind was one in same of his counterpart's, and he knew just as well the grave gamble.  
  
"...obviously..." Suichi pulsed in a fragile sigh.   
  
Through their forty-five years sharing a vessel, Yoko's soul split into two entities, they liked to coax their separate egos and energies into even more separate souls than they were. In truth, Yoko was one single soul, spilt against his will during his reincarnation...both knew well of the other's existence...and both knew of Suichi's superiority with control. Yoko dwelt in the deepest core of Suichi's mind, the fraction of the human brain intangible to human reach. They were joined as a unit, yet at the same time separate...separate egos, separate minds, separate personalities, torn in two during the rocky jolt into the womb...though two, they were one...they functioned as a single person, though referred to the alternate ego as another...they were a joint person, yet two souls in one reluctant package...to understand their relationship is beyond human mentality...but to know they were one, and shared a family as a man would share his wife with himself, was exactly how to grasp the complexity of the entire concept. Botan was his...theirs, his. Kurama's, be it Suichi or Yoko...both were one, neither were two...the one soul was mate to Botan.   
  
*um...not sure if that's how it's supposed to be like...but I just watched the Kurama/Karasue episode and Yoko referred to Suichi as I have him refer to Suichi...so it...'kinda' works...I guess...um...heh? ^_^;;;*  
  
"I want my mate back," Yoko growled, his fist clenching subconsciously to a dagger sharp point.  
  
"Dare I say...but her life hangs in the balance, Yoko," Suichi scolded, his unnaturally intense glare faceting and swallowing flecks of melting emerald. "...our calmness is crucial if we dare to save her."  
  
"Indeed..." Yoko snarled slowly, straining to keep his anger within his trademark, cocky composure. "...matters concerning Botan tend to strip us of rationality, ne?"  
  
"No, I try to remain calm for her sake...but they tend to strip you of rationality, Yoko," Suichi smirked tiredly. "...you just drag me along."  
  
"Har-de-har-har," Yoko sneered in return, his tone just as calm and eerily smooth as ever. "How humorous, Suichi."   
  
"Yoko...how can we approach this situation?" Suichi's glare tightened, jerking him from their playful battle of wit to the sincerity of the moment.   
  
"Releasing me would be wise," Yoko sighed, the violent gold stabbing from sight as they pressed in a low blink. "...but even with our two partners, Ryooki and Hiei...can we stop Grapko?"  
  
Silence as the duo dwelt in their thoughts...Kurama's mind outwardly was functioning in twin motions, two separate jerks as he strained to compute a plan as either Suichi or Yoko. The navy licks of mist wafted against Suichi's ankles, cooling touches easing his boiling flesh. "..."  
  
"There is only one way..." Yoko clicked his footing, stalking away with low steps leaking of morbidity.   
  
"...Yoko...?"  
  
"...let me free, Suichi...if you don't, not only will we die," Yoko's eyes threw over his angelic ivory shoulder, fiery slits not unlike those of wolves burning in their cores. "...but so will Ai, Kisho...and our beloved Botan."  
  
Suichi pricked slightly, his eyes quivering. "...my family..."  
  
"Danger lurks even in our very mind," Yoko sighed poetically, his raspy, eerily calming tone wreaking mental havoc on the composed Suichi. "...remember...it can hurt you with far worse pain...than even Grapko."  
  
Suichi blinked slightly at his counterpart's words...and a smirk gripped to his lips despite his better judgement. He should fear Yoko before ever fearing Grapko...and indeed, that eased Suichi from his emotional bind, realizing the utter truth...he could do far more damage to himself than his own father could...keep so in mind...and defeat Grapko with every fragment of your courageous, regret-free soul. Fearing Grapko could do know good...knowing the damage Yoko could do to himself was far more cause for alarm...but they functioned as a unit...as a duo...a team...never would even the infamous Yoko turn on his latest partner...for his life...and sake of love for Suichi.   
  
Yoko's form blended against the navy and crystalline mists engulfing him, bolts of black lightening licking the air in his demonic aura. Suichi smiled after his counterpart...and knew, within the eve, Yoko would again walk the surface world.  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
"AI!!! NO!!!" he clawed after her nimble form, and nearly collapsed to the void himself...a tense fist gripped into the fibers of his shirt, jerking him back from the loose gap between reality and fiction. Yukio gaped after the escaped she-Fox, staring aimlessly into the flickering mass of purple demonic ki.   
  
Kane held fast to the Detective's jacket, gazing sternly into the intense pits of blackness beyond the purple ki signals of the rugged gate to the Demon World. An eerie breeze of hellish essence slipped through his mint spikes, ruffling them against the air.  
  
"No, Yukio...you can't follow her...not yet," he murmured softly, his intense onyx glare setting firm against the portal.  
  
"Why not?!" the Detective wriggled against the lug's hold, Kane ignoring his friend's efforts.  
  
"She hasn't reached the Demon world yet..." Kane clicked his tongue against his teeth. His Jagon burned under the ki signals surrounding him, yet he focused on the demi-fox still passing through the barrier. "If you go before she's passed completely you could both be killed."  
  
Yukio pricked helplessly, throwing his reckless stare back into the crackling pit beneath him. He barely stood against it's edge, Kane steadying his limp form from collapsing though. The Kuwabara gazed coldly into the portal, his Jagon swollen under the intensity of the ki swarming within it.  
  
"Damn...migraine..." he winced, snapping from his hold to Ai's energy signal. "...she can't be reached any more..." he sighed in defeat, ashamed that he had allowed her signal to slip free.   
  
"Hn...and to think she's supposed to be the rational one," Ryuuhayai snorted, stepping in position to her cousin's side. She glared ruby daggers against the flickering, almost lightening-like portal, and with a spur of pain to corrode against her third stare, she relieved herself of her efforts to track Ai. "...if neither of our Jagon's can reach her she's completely passed to the other dimension."   
  
And with a complete lack of emotion, she swat at Kane's wrist, Yukio collapsing flaccid into the bowels of the portal. A scream whipped from his losing form, Kane gaping after the brunette in shock, the white's of his eyes completely circling the onyx.   
  
"YUKIO!!" Gakilei screamed, sprinting to Kane's side. "KANE! YOU IDIOT!!"  
  
"It wasn't my fault!!" he seemed hurt, trying in vain to spark his innocence. "She hit me!!"   
  
"Hn...either way, it's no matter..." Ryuuhayai smirked, setting her burning eyes on her last two companions. "...we're all going to the Demon World, because we're all going to assist with Ai's struggle."  
  
Gakilei pricked, and gaped for the portal below. A random, abandoned well in a dead dojo's back property...it's left edge completely demolished and caved in, with a whipping, eye of the tornado-like hole of demonic ki and souls encircling the inside...it linked the human world to the realm of demons...and Ai had but to follow her instincts toward it and dive in. Snatches of navy lightening sparked and crackled within, low moans of creaks pulsing from it's inner core.   
  
Ryuuhayai again smirked, once Yukio's signal had collapsed beyond her Jagon's reach. "Hn?"  
  
"You stay away from me, Ryuu!!" Gakilei dove behind the brick Kane, hoping against hope she'd be safe. The Dragon's eyebrow quirked in sync to a very monotonous expression, and her ruby glare tucked in a roll.   
  
"Very well, Urimeshi," she smirked. Her form blurred against reality, her aura faint in her yard-length sprint. Her jet form collapsed against the barrier's gaping entrance, and down she plummeted, further and further from the snagged link to her home dimension.  
  
Kane blinked after his cousin, his Jagon swelling in a last, fiery spurt once she had collapsed beyond his senses. He slowly turned to Gakilei, and a shrug nudged at his shoulders. A tired, reassuring smile graced his slender lips as his calm, soft voice broke into hearing. "You have to go before me, Lei...otherwise, you won't be able to tell when I make it to the Demon World because you don't have a Jagon."  
  
Silence as the duo locked in a gaze, before the she-Detective pulsed in a weary sigh. She flashed him one of her father's most cocky grins, and kicked against the ground, falling flaccid in the bowels of darkness of demon superiority. Kane smiled after her collapsing form, and traced her ki with a very focused Jagon.   
  
He threw a last glare over his shoulder, saturating his soulful eyes with a last glimpse of the human world. Once he let his tracing of her signal slip due to distance, he smiled, a warm pulse of a rush jerking within his neck. An eerie wind snapped the limp ribbons of his headband to and fro, flickering his mane in various directions. "Albeit this is cliche...jeronimo!!"  
  
He leapt into the broken well, his form licked and bitten by snags of demonic ki rejecting his presence. He glared steadily below him, awaiting his arrival in a world dominated by pure-breds.   
  
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MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! *glare* now go review!!! 


	17. Lost Pacifier

*Anemone's room...Mirai Trunks flies in with Anemone on his back and the unconscious Hiei under his arm...lands and places Hiei on Anemone's couch...Kurama jogs in and eases into a chair in the corner, breathing a little heavy...Anneliese and Ellen drag themselves in after running fifteen blocks...both collapse into each other*  
  
Ellen: God, d-dammit, *gasp* Trunks! Did you hafta, hafta fly all the *weez* freakin' way from, from p3?!  
  
Anneliese: *weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez*   
  
Mirai Trunks: ... *examines Hiei's injury...he's bleeding from the temple...drops Hiei's head*  
  
Hiei: *thud*  
  
Mirai Trunks: *raised eyebrow at Anemone*  
  
Anemone: Future he was gonna kill us all!!  
  
Hiei: *drool*  
  
All: ...  
  
Kurama: hm...maybe you just went about it the wrong way, Mones...  
  
Anemone: *glare*  
  
Anneliese: Mones?  
  
Anemone: yeah?   
  
Anneliese: we gotta talk...  
  
Anemone: huh? O-wh?!-*dragged out into hallway...blinky* what is it, Anneliese?  
  
Anneliese: there has been no end skit for six chapters...do you know what that's doing to our careers?!  
  
Anemone: ...  
  
Anneliese: we only get half the recognition as we did before, and our little adventures take twice as long to play out!  
  
Anemone: um...  
  
Ellen: *pops out of nowhere*   
  
Anemone and Anneliese: -ah!-  
  
Ellen: -yeah! You're being lazy...tisk tisk.  
  
Anemone: –_–;;  
  
Kurama: *walks into hallway to join in discussion* indeed...Mones, I've done some calculations, and your motivation for this story have slipped somewhat. *looks a little ashamed* do you not like me anymore?  
  
Anemone: gah?! What?! Of course I still like you, Fox! I've just had to cut down on the skits cuz I'm running out of themes for our mishaps, so I hafta lengthen the ones I can think of...*pout* I've had humor-writer's block...look at how much this skit sucks!   
  
Mirai Trunks: *from inside room* AHHH!! *flies into hallway as a Super Saiyan, throwing ki blasts back into the room*  
  
All: O_o ?!  
  
Hiei: SAIYAN! YOU SHALL PAY FOR LETTING YOUR WOMAN STRIKE ME WITH YOUR SWORD!!!  
  
Kurama, Anneliese, and Ellen: *blink at Anemone* ...  
  
Anemone: *gulp, ducks behind Kurama*   
  
Mirai Trunks: *throws ki blast into room, flies down hallway grabbing Anemone*  
  
Anemone: -O_O;;-   
  
Mirai Trunks: c'mon Mones I gotta get you outta here!  
  
Anemone: *squeals in glee* YAY! THIS SKIT'S NOT AS CRAPPY AS I THOUGHT!!  
  
Mirai Trunks, Kurama, Anneliese, and Ellen: –_–;;  
  
Hiei: *roar, comes running out into hallway*  
  
Kurama: *subconsciously pins Ellen and Anneliese against wall as Hiei blurs by*  
  
Hiei: SAIYAN!! ONNA!!  
  
Mirai Trunks: *flies through open window, soaring off into the air*  
  
Hiei: *leaps out window after them*  
  
Kurama, Anneliese, and Ellen: *stare blankly out the open window*  
  
Kurama: *slaps face* must Hiei always be angry every time he's conscious?  
  
Ellen: he's probably always angry whenever he's conscious because of how he's made unconscious before he's made conscious again and...*trails off realizing that didn't make much sense*  
  
Kurama and Anneliese: ...?  
  
Ellen: *starts twiddling fingers meekly...mumbles* never mind...  
  
Kurama: erm...as, interestingly, put, as that was...*shrugs at Anneliese* from what I gathered, her accusation does make sense and it is true to the situation...  
  
Anneliese: I guess...*turns to window* *bing sound on Anemone's computer*  
  
Kurama: *jogs into room to see what made the noise, instant message from Anemone...blinks at computer in confusion, signs on to RedFox15*  
  
RedFox15: ...Mones?  
  
ReviewDammit89: hey Fox!  
  
RedFox15: ...how are you online?! You and Trunks just flew out the window with Hiei in hot pursuit of you!  
  
ReviewDammit89: I have my laptop with me, duh...  
  
Kurama: *massages eyes tiredly with his thumb and index finger*  
  
RedFox15: do you honestly take that thing with you everywhere?!  
  
ReviewDammit89: hell yeah! I need it! Oh! Say hi to Trunks!  
  
RedFox15: is this really the time to-*Trunks's instant message interrupts his typing*  
  
SworDBeaRer90: yo.  
  
RedFox15: hello.  
  
*long pause, Kurama starts talking to Anemone again*  
  
RedFox15: honestly Mones you truly don't have the time for this! Hiei's ready to kill you!  
  
ReviewDammit89: ah he won't kill lil old me...!  
  
RedFox15: *raised eyebrow* care to wager that?  
  
ReviewDammit89: oh calm down, Red...I've got my Mirai...I'm set!  
  
RedFox15: but Mones!  
  
ReviewDammit89: uh-oh...g2g...Hiei's on a rooftop and he and Trunks just got into a ki fight...  
  
RedFox15: ...  
  
ReviewDammit89: I'm uploading from here so can you say your line?  
  
RedFox15: what's the point in that?!  
  
ReviewDammit89: DO IT  
  
ReviewDammit89: DO IT  
  
ReviewDammit89: DO IT  
  
ReviewDammit89: DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
RedFox15: OK fine! *groan*   
  
RedFox15 has signed off.  
  
Kurama: *long heavy sigh, turns to the few readers present* erm...chapter...*prick, blinky, shifty eyes* er...chapter...*blink* uhhh...*blink, whispers to self* oh darn it what number is it?! *hisses over shoulder* Anneliese! Ellen!  
  
Anneliese: yeah?  
  
Ellen: sup.  
  
Kurama: *whispers* what chapter number are we on?!  
  
Anneliese and Ellen: *about to anime collapse, stop halfway through, realizing they don't know either*  
  
Ellen: hum...I have no idea! *Kurama anime collapses* Anneliese?  
  
Anneliese: it's been forever since she updated...it's no surprise that we'd forget...I guess...  
  
Ellen: why don't you go on Fanfiction.net and see what her last chapter number was?  
  
Kurama and Anneliese: ...!   
  
Ellen: ...um...what...?  
  
Kurama: *prick, goes onto Internet when...THE COMPUTER CRASHES!! Bam...starts smoking in the back*  
  
All: ...  
  
Kurama: ...well...this skit sure is full of surprises...  
  
Anneliese: *starts ramming head against wall* why ... are ... we ... so ... freakin' ... screwed ... all ... the ... time?!?!  
  
Ellen: *blinks at Anneliese*   
  
Kurama: *long heavy sigh* I suppose we should just wing it.  
  
Anneliese: *still ramming*  
  
Ellen: go ahead...if you really wanna...  
  
Kurama: okay then...*turns to readers* chapter *coughcough, mumble, coughcough* enjoy!   
  
Chapter 18: Lost Pacifier  
  
Darkness engulfed him, bitter soullessness rejecting his human descent. A vicious, lashing wind whipped his wild, frayed mint hair, the loose, rolling sashes of his bandana strumming the air. Breathing was a struggle, poisonous vapors slivering through the pores of the demonic souls and ki signals. He was overwhelmed...his lungs parched and his esophagus screaming in a stretch...not to mention the intense, corrosive burn swelling in his Jagon. With every pulse of his pained, tightening heart, a throb of agony stripped his Jagon of its focus and sapphire glimmer. Kane fell flaccid, his limbs loosening under the dramatic pains of the hellishness lurking around his descending form.  
  
Suddenly, he broke from the pain...from the burn...from the cold...and into normality...soulfulness...a counter world. His upper back struck the ground, and a rush of liveliness coursed within him...a shot of blood spat from his gaping lips, and he loosened to the grooves of the soil he has landed on.   
  
Lazily his onyx stare bobbed to exposure, and with tired blinks he managed to catch the glimpse of a struggling mass of slicked blackness and his ears pricked to the hums of complaining moans.  
  
"Uuuuugh..." Gakilei growled, limply collapsing to the ground. "Damn I feel stoned..."  
  
"Hn..." Ryuuhayai grunted, her stand firm and intimidating, the trip having diminished her none. "...weaklings."  
  
Kane snorted indignantly, wrestling against himself and his tender muscles to sit upright. "Excuse me?!"  
  
"Honestly how can you even steal the title of warrior if you can't even force yourself to stand after a trip between dimensions?"  
  
"You actually mean to say...that we...are weaker than you?!" Gakilei gaped in disbelief at her accusation.   
  
"Hn...interpret it as you like," she smirked a dear, daring, and fiery smirk.   
  
Kane blinked at her slightly, before sighing it off and letting his heavy head to droop. An eerie breeze ruffled the minty spikes, and his thrashed bandana collapsed tattered from his forehead. A sizzle of exposure as the Jagon swelled wide, snapping to attention and glossing over with its intensive ocean sheen.   
  
The skin knotted on both of her temples, ripping wide as a third eye blinked its ruby glints and fiery sparks. Her silk bandana tore the second the eye tore open, the ribbon collapsing flaccid to her ankles. Ryuuhayai sighed lowly, her nostrils flaring as the burning sensation of a scorching Jagon racked her senses. Her frame never wavered victim to her pain...but her stare did. A groggy blink sagged in the edges of her twin blood eyes, the third wreaking havoc to be felt and embraced as pain.   
  
Gakilei popped the bone in her neck, cracking her shoulder to graze the cheek. A slow breeze stroked her jet mane, loose hairs whipping more dramatically than the others. "Where are Yukio and Ai?"  
  
The cousin Koorimes both pricked, blinking in their utter realization...that neither had a clue.  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
Candy set narrow to the horizon, the black pupils corrosive in determination. A cliff setting, jungle-like with the greenery and the view. She focused all her energy into stalking a single scent...miles and miles away. Kurama lingered no where to be reached...and her efforts ripped her of her senses.   
  
Her nostrils flared as scent after scent of demonic intensity swelled her head groggy. A wince gnarled her ivory complection, and her intimidating glare glossed over in dizziness. Her slender knees buckled, and she collapsed limp, her throat parched and her nose dry under the influence of the thousands upon thousands of scents.   
  
A snap of bone to bone, and flesh to flesh...she had been caught, tenderly, by caring hands. He swung her arm behind his sloping neck, and steadied her at the hip. Her head swam and her bushy ruby locks spilled over her sharp shoulders.  
  
Yukio eyed her with his gripping concern. Though partially demonic himself, he was of a different breed, and didn't suffer the severity of animalistic senses...she seemed drugged by all the smells surrounding her...the distinctions between millions of ki signals each possessed their own scent, and each was overwhelming...never had she journeyed to Makai...never had she ever embraced another world of which she was a part...never had she strained herself in locating a specific aroma when it was veiled and clouded from her with millions of near identical other smells.   
  
Caramel streaked over her to examine her condition...her tail fell flaccid between her slightly parted legs, its motion dead and its hairs limp.  
  
"Oh Ai..." he whispered brashly, gently sweeping his arms to buckle her legs. She wasn't fully unconscious, there in his arms...but she was dizzy enough to be stripped of her judgement and focus...she nestled limply against his shoulder, moaning a tender sigh.   
  
"Where are the others?!" Yukio seemed frazzled in tensed worry, jerking this way and that in vain search for his companions.  
  
"...not far..." he heard a meek, tired moan...he pricked, whipping down to the girl in his arms. Ai whimpered in her pain, but managed to mutter a means of assistance. "...over...over your shoulder, the tree?" she groaned. Yukio, licking his upper lip in hope, whirled to gaze a tree, humongous, and near a mile's distance.   
  
"Yes...yes," he sniffed, sweat glossing his temple. "...yes the tree..."  
  
"Follow it...I...I can...smell them...somewhere between...between here...and the tree."  
  
"You shouldn't be trying to follow scents, Ai!" he attempted in his worry. "You shouldn't..."  
  
A tired, innocent smile curled her gentle lips. "I never...really know...what's good for me, then...I suppose...ne?"  
  
Yukio could only smile at her perseverence...his expression was gentle, velvety...soothing to her dizzy, hurting eyes. "It's okay..." he cooed, his voice misty and kind, soft as gel to her sharp, pricking ears. "...I'll find them..."  
  
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"Hn?" a prick...crimson blinked wide, then sharpened dramatically in nimble thinness. They threw over a narrow shoulder, faceting in the opposite direction of their master's stalk. '...what? Is that-?...why those little-!'   
  
"Hiei?"   
  
The Dragon jerked from his lock of concentration, pricking back to face his partners, particularly the one to voice his concern...the humanoid kitsune. "Hn?"  
  
"What do you mean 'hn', Koorime?" Ryooki snuffed bitterly. "...you mentally abandoned us."   
  
"I can mentally do as I wish, Mutt" Hiei countered darkly, his glare narrowing.   
  
"Not when it causes you to lose all focus," the older kitsune growled, stalking ahead with an eerie air about him. Redness pinned corrosively after the fox-wolf, Hiei glaring a dangerous glare.  
  
Kurama eyed hard after Ryooki, the muscles to his forehead tensing in stubborn nooks. He slowly drew the stunning emerald for way of the flame Koorime, examining every crease in his partner's tired, frustrated expression. With a blink Kurama could tell...that something was wrong...a something...that involved their children.  
  
"Hiei..." he breathed cooly. The Koorime locked a deep, entranced gaze with his dear friend, as if the emotions he felt surged from the ruby gleam of his demonic irises. They didn't need Hiei's telepathy...for both to know what was going on.  
  
A mass of silver stroked the air, lashing in frisked whips to and fro. Kurama's tail slapped against the air, bruising the breezes to haze this deep into Mount Shiverku's core. His expression was numbed in sincerity, a low, dark glaze in his severe eyes. "Ai..." he whispered brashly. "...too many are in the Demon World...she should have stayed in the human world...she should have stayed safe..."  
  
"Would you have done that, kitsune?" the Dragon countered softly. "...would you have stayed safe and sound, when your entire family was lost in the vicious bowels of the Demon World?"  
  
Silence...a long, deafening silence as the truth of the matter sponged for the kitsune to take in...of course he wouldn't. Kurama would willingly give his life for his friends...his children...his Botan.   
  
Ai was practically his clone...his eerie composure...his bottled, calmed rage...ignore the obvious physical traits she stole from him...ignore the identical senses...her personality alone was frighteningly similar...and Kurama knew...if he dared not keep himself aloof of risk, when those he loved were in danger for their lives...could he truly expect his daughter to do so?  
  
"No."  
  
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Heavy steps, trampling through the leaves and greenery. Yukio wavered in his footing, his ankle swollen from his landing from the dimensional portal. Yet he carried her, the sickly, weakened Ai...the strongest woman he knew, fallen victim to her own abilities.  
  
A drizzle of crystalline tore from his slender chin, beating against her flawless complection. She winced slightly, but relaxed almost on command. Yukio trudged onward...for that tree...that far off tree...how could they have scattered so? Wouldn't they have landed to almost the same plot?   
  
No...he and Minamino were thrown a distance aside, probably for negative emotions against the violent kis of the portal...perhaps had they accepted themselves as subjects to the mystical energies, had they not been so judgmental and defensive, rigid against the portal's soul...had the others given over more fully?   
  
Had they accepted the portal as not theirs...but the demons'? Yukio and Ai had been thrust violently away...the others must have landed closer in a bunch...funny, though, he wondered...how Ryuuhayai managed to make it through without pissing off the energies, since her ki signal seemed to be within range of Kane and Gakilei...  
  
Greedy beads tore from his chin, his ankle pulsing in pain. Finally, his footing was off, and he whipped violently in a jerk for the ground, Ai's form sprawling limp before him. He roared in pain, the bone snapped and the muscles irritated with negative strokes.   
  
"Dammit!" he cursed bitterly, his trip having ripped the flesh at the sole...redness sputtered in throbbing courses, the coppery scent of his blood...swelling in female nostrils.  
  
Ai's expression tightened, relaxing to bob gentle eyes...her nose subconsciously pricked in dreary sniffs...until she jerked fully to awareness, her glare stern and surprised...she instantly recognized the aroma...the eerie, warm rush of a Urimeshi's blood.  
  
She ripped upwards in a forced sit, her eyes following her sensitive nostrils. She gasped slightly when her humanoid vision snatched sight of her wounded companion. Sweat bead to his temple, and standing was not a option.  
  
"...oh no...Yukio...no..."  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
"Dammit Ryuu! Where the hell's Yukio?!" a female Urimeshi clawed her fists into a female Dragon's shirt front. The she-Dragon remained completely still as her footing and position were compromised...she remained motionless still...but Ryuuhayai's dull expression sharpened at the eyes, the ruby irises burning dangerously, and Gakilei jerked away, fearing her immediate future would be slit through. Yet her anger, though stifled by her companion's low glare, still flamed her aura. "WELL?!"  
  
"How should I know..." Ryuuhayai shrugged calmly, again turning for a walk ahead of the angered Urimeshi.   
  
"IT'S YOUR FAULT HE GOT SEPARATED FROM US!!"  
  
Ryuuhayai's glare threw darkly over her shoulder, a corrosive burn in the pupils. "Dare blame me, Urimeshi?"  
  
Gakilei pricked, realizing Ryuuhayai wasn't in the best of moods...but she persevered. "Yeah! Yeah I do! If you hadn't of knocked him out of Kane's hand, he might still be with us!"  
  
Kane groaned lowly, knowing well how his morbid cousin could—and would—counter the Detective's every attempt.   
  
"Hn..." Ryuuhayai barked her grunt, shifting in her footing to face the punk wholly. "...and what of Ai? Do you not fear for her sake? She is, after all, as lost from us as Yukio."  
  
Gakilei paused, blinking awkwardly. "Well, of course I'm worried 'bout Ai, too...but! But what about Yukio?!"  
  
"Hn..." the Dragon's narrowed eyes pressed in a sage-like closure. "...they rejected the portal, and it rejected them in return...they didn't give themselves fully to the energies owning the gateway, and in its fury, it spat them a distance away...we, however, landed directly beneath its gaping end, and as a group...for the three of us accepted that we didn't belong as the demonic souls of the portal did."  
  
The she-Detective's glare quivered lowly, her shock and fear overwhelming her...her dear friend since infancy, Ai...no doubt having hurt herself in an attempt towards assistance that went beyond her young limits...and her twin, Yukio...no doubt putting Ai's need before his own, as he always had...she struggled bitterly with computing and sponging in the fact...that either could be dead...that either could be hurt...that either could be held in hostage...and that both could be completely alone, without even the other.   
  
Kane sensed her plight...without even a blink to his Jagon, he knew how weighed she was...his emotions alone tied to hers...her aura licked against his in a balanced way...and he could tell instantly just by feel of her ki.   
  
A pat to her shoulder, flesh cupping tenderly and reassuringly. Gakilei whipped desperately for the bearer, and found calming, protective onyx stinging for her frazzled chocolate eyes. The light breaking from the trees struck behind him, giving him an amazingly angelic look. A low, dreary breeze loomed through his minty spikes, rustling them tenderly. Her fear diminished...locking into those eyes...he told her with his emotions...that all will be well...despite the upper hand being to the enemy, and a long road of confusion beyond the here and now...he could reassure her with his loving stare.  
  
"...Kane..." she whispered, fear quivering her words...he gently applied a pressure to her trembling lips, his stare mighty and smooth.  
  
"It's okay...don't worry about them, Lei..." he smiled. "...Ryuu's got a gut feeling about where they could be, so if we follow her for a while, we should be set."  
  
"...but...but are you sure?" she attempted.   
  
A presence among them stood rigid, her stance awkward and annoyed. With a harsh, bitter "HN," her companions jerked to reality, gawky sensations overtaking them as they pried apart. Redness singed at the punk's nose, and she feigned a determined expression, stalking readily ahead. Kane's expression knotted meekly, his composure stripped and his sincerity lost. The Detective passed by the still Dragon with an air of a lie about her flickering ki...and Ryuuhayai simply snorted a deep, dark smirk of knowing at her embarrassed cousin.  
  
Suddenly, an odd aura signal broke into the clearing...right behind them. They trio whirled to face it...and blinked in confusion.  
  
A tall, slender figure...a pale complection hosting naturally slender eyes. The irises danced in liveliness, flickering with coppery, caramelized browns. His loose, scraggly brown locks fell flaccid over his laughing stare, a silent, slim smirk about his casual face. Scarlet draped his neck, blues fell as limp capes over his shoulders and front. A loose white shirt, informal khakis, and ebony slip ons. An eyebrow quirked at the trio, all three blinking awkwardly at him.  
  
"Hello," he smirked a sage-like smirk, as if ready to indulge in praise.   
  
"...well his aura is far too humanoid for him to be a demon..." Kane jut his lip in deduction. The stranger seemed to accept this, until... "...either that or he's insanely weak."  
  
The singeing spark of his rusty eyes bulged wide, blinking in shock. "Why you little-! Do you KNOW who I AM?!"  
  
"Um...no?" Gakilei smirked devilishly. He growled a dark, bitter roll of a growl, vigorously thrusting his crimson cape over his jutting shoulder.  
  
"You damn kids...those stupid parents of yours never even told you who I am?! Idiots, every one of them-!"  
  
"...are you saying that we should know you?" Ryuuhayai snorted crudely, far too lazy and uncaring to probe into the youth's mind.  
  
"OF COURSE YOU SHOULD YOU LITTLE PUNKS!"  
  
"Sheeeeesh you're acting like you're SO important...you're only like, what, seventeen?" Gakilei countered suspiciously.  
  
"HMPF! Just shows how spiritually aware YOU are to not be able to tell one's age by their ki signal!" the stranger snorted indignantly.   
  
"Who ARE you?" Kane stepped in firm placement before his companions, his form rigid and his stance hidden.   
  
"I, you uneducated little fools, am the answer to ALL your problems!!" he smirked darkly, as if a secret creased his lips in a yearn for speech. Ryuuhayai eyed him all too monotonously, Kane and Gakilei stifling snorts of laughter.   
  
"And what could you do, exactly?" Kane snickered.   
  
"I could restore you to your friends." he countered calmly, receiving triplet pricks of shock and raw hope. White rings drew clear around trembling irises of onyx, chocolate, and ruby, each snagged in pure astoundment at his composed words.   
  
"What?!" Gakilei stuttered. "Y-you could?!"   
  
"I could indeed."  
  
"You better not be lying, you haughty bastard!" Kane curled his grip into the three clothe layers about the youth's tensed front...calm, lowered frames, catching to the souls of dancing eyes, locked into the scared, stock-black of the Kuwabara's stare. Friction between the stranger's fingers, a snap, quick and flawless...without ever drawing his slender glare from Kane's struggling one.   
  
"PAH!" from the near brush...a thud of limp bones, softened by the tenderness of flesh and muscle, cracking to the dense ground. Twin rustles, scratching to the leaves and bitterly jagged branches of the bush. Kane ripped away from the stranger's scarlet drape, and sprinted for the displaced mass of rustles. Eerie groans slipped from the greenery...both riddled in pain.  
  
Limp redness sprawled over the leaves and branches, lacing dramatically into the brush...a mane of a Minamino, shining with all its splendor...a moaning Urimeshi awkwardly jerked from his lounge on top of her, unable to pry from the brush...until a stern grip gnarled into his back collar, tearing him from the tight nook.   
  
Kane set Yukio to his side, and turned to face the unconscious Ai. A pained expression distorted his features, tightening them with dancing shadows of worry. He gently slipped tender arms beneath her battered, tired form, scooping her from her wedged nook.  
  
Yukio collapsed limp to his twin's caring shoulder, his arm draped over her sloping neck. "What the hell?!" she hissed bitterly to the stranger, who took it with a low, questioning glare. "What is wrong with your aim?!"  
  
A dreary sigh racked the youth's front, his caramelized glare slicing from view. "If your green-haired buddy here didn't have me in murder reach...my aim could have been more open."  
  
"Hn..." Ryuuhayai snuffed bitterly, a crease to the slope of her pale nose. "...what type of caliber can you be to block my Jagon?"  
  
Indeed, her laziness had lifted, and an attempt towards identification had been rolled into play...the she-Dragon's Jagon, though still young, could probe even the most complicated, trained intellects...only a particular level of mental superiority could completely reject her telepathic presence.  
  
The group—let Ai—pricked in a start, though Ryuuhayai's dagger glare burned murderously into the stranger's playful irises. A smirk caught hitch to his lips, knowing and seeping of his ageless wisdom.  
  
"Who ARE you?!" Kane roared, Ai tucked gently to his chest, with gentle hands to the buckles of her knees and her shoulderblades.   
  
A deeper smirk darkened his angelically torturous expression...until the arrogant, rolling tune of his mighty, zestful voice broke the shattered air. "I am your superior...I am your keeper...I am your lord...I am...Koenma."  
  
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Hola...okay, I don't feel like an end skit lol...I know, aren't I just so mean?! But don't worry...they shall come back...next chapter...promise...anywho, a nice send-off is in order...GO REVIEW YOU LEACHES! Lol sorry I had to do that lol...but honestly, I wike my reviews and I wike em long...with oodles and oodles o' your fav parts/suggestions...well, latr!! 


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